The Hunter
by Netsrik1
Summary: Garruk is on the hunt for the planeswalker who cursed him. Showing up in New York City, he begins a killing spree. Castle and Beckett catch the case and try to make sense of it in their world. Will Jace and Gideon be able to convince Kate that magic does exist? Co-written with Bossybossninja.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: After finishing "Hostage", I was PM'd by bossybossninja asking if I was interested in collaborating on a combined fandom story. Opening each fandom to something new. I was immediately interested because it's a challenge to be writing something familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. This is a combination of Castle and Magic: The Gathering. I hope you enjoy it! :)_

 **XXXXXX**

 _I wasn't like this, a long time ago. Or, at least I think it was a long time. My mind, I cannot think, I can only search for the planeswalker who did this to me. I hate what I have become, but I cannot resist. Fear proceeds me, death follows in my wake. I came, following a trail I thought was the one who cursed me, but that one has still eluded me. My search has brought me to a new plane, one who's name I would care about, but now all that fills my mind is the burning anger that drives me to find the planeswalker that did this._

"Please, man! I have no idea what you're talking about!" This planeswalker had not been hard to find, my tracking magic easily able to seek my quarry. "I have money, here, take it!" _What is this?_ He thrust out his hand, and held out an object, made of some kind of fake leather. I didn't care about what he gave me, _he was the one!_ I stepped forward, and the man tried to run, but I blocked the entire alleyway. With a single swing of my greataxe, I cleaved his stomach open. As he lay dying, I pressed my hand to his face, driven by some unknown instinct, and tendrils, reaching out from my veins crept forward, and touched the man. I felt the energy flow into my body as his turned into a shriveled husk.

 _He wasn't the one._ My anger burned inside, I had to find this person. I walked through the alley that the stone towers made. _This city never sleeps_. Even though it was the dead of night, lights were everywhere. Whatever magic fueled them, I couldn't care less, I _needed_ to find the one who had cursed me.

 **XXXXXX**

"Lanie, what have we got?"

Kate Beckett knelt beside her friend.

The medical examiner shook her head.

"I'm not entirely sure," she answered, pulling the sheet from the face of the body. The canvas was pulled over to reveal a face, utterly lifeless, desiccated and black. The smell of decay hit Kate like someone had shoved a pigsty up her nose.

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Kate, "Is that a mummy?"

"Looks like it," replied Lanie, "but I don't think it was stolen from the museum."

"Why not?"

"I want to get to the lab before I say anything officially, but off the record… I just don't know."

"Well, that's cryptic," Kate mentioned; frowning as she stood. A few people passing by were taking photos, sure to share the event and attract at least at least a small news crew.

Esposito walked up.

"Yo." He pointed to a man behind him huddled and rocking on the ground. "We got one witness so far, but he's gotta be on acid or something."

"Why's that?"

"He's going on about this freakishly tall dude wearing some sort of armor and a huge ass axe. He thought it was gonna be a mugging, until the guy swung the axe and nearly cut the vic in two."

Kate rolled her eyes. This was turning out to be a wonderful turn of events.

"Just what we need, a whacked-out witness. Castle's going to be so mad he was stuck in meetings all day."

"Oh, it gets better. The perp touches the victim, our guy didn't want to get a closer look – didn't want to get drawn in, can't say I blame him – but he says the victim just kind of withered. Until it looked like…" he pointed to the body.

Beckett shook her head.

"All right. Get uniforms to canvass the area. Hopefully they can find a more coherent witness. Talk to the business owners around, maybe they have security cameras. Get street cams as well, and find out if any of these gawkers saw anything to do with this. If not, get rid of them. I want to get the body out before the press gets here, and without pictures showing up on the internet."

"On it." Esposito walked off with a purpose in his step.

"Beckett?"

"Yeah, Ryan?"

Kevin Ryan jogged up holding a wallet.

"Found this lying over there," he pointed. "It could be the vic's wallet."

He looked down at the body, which Lanie hadn't re-covered.

"Or – _a_ wallet."

He looked back to Kate, and opened it.

"Belongs to a Robert Starkey. Couple hundred bucks, two credit cards. Doesn't look like a robbery."

Beckett looked to the witness still rocking back and forth on the ground, then to the victim.

"Find out if it belongs to our… hopefully stoned witness," she rolled her eyes. "I can't believe I said that."

Ryan grinned.

"If it's not his, find Starkey or his next of kin and find out what you can about him. I'm inclined to believe the wallet is connected."

"You don't think it could have just fallen out of the guy's pocket?"

"Clear back here? And even if it was just lost there's no way two hundred dollars would still be in it, to say nothing of the credit cards."

Ryan nodded and jogged over to the witness to ask his questions.

Kate knelt at the body again. She pulled the sheet down to the waist. Sure enough, a visible gap from what looked convincingly like a giant axe easily separated the upper half of the man's sternum, even in his desiccated, blackened state.

"Lanie, what could do this?"

Lanie turned almost frightened eyes to her.

"I'm almost afraid to find out."

 **XXXXXX**

"He's definitely here, he hasn't left this plane yet." The pair had just planeswalked onto the top of a skyscraper, entering the plane with hardly a sound.

"Uh, where is here, Jace?" The pair looked around, and walked up to the edge of the building. They peered down over the side, looking at the city. Dazzling lights, hundreds of people, and strange metal things that moved could be seen far below.

"Kind of reminds me of Ravnica, just a little, but without things in the air."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too but… Whoa. Stop looking around you, but instead, feel around you." They closed their eyes for a moment, but the one called Jace immediately felt what the other man was saying.

"You're right. The mana here is old, like it hasn't been used in a really long time."

"Do you think they use magic at all?"

"From what I can see, no."

"How is that possible? A city this size can only be run with the aid of magic. It's never been seen before."

"Do you even see any law magic, Gideon? Even the most anti-magic towns have spellcasters to control other people who won't listen to the law."

"Maybe they don't use magic whatsoever." That was a scary and curious thought, and both knew it was likely the truth.

"Let's go down there, to see what happens at the ground level." Jace put his hand on Gideon's shoulder, and they both vanished with a flash of blue light. They materialized several hundred feet below, in an alley only dimly by the lights outside.

"What the-" A voice, then a crash of glass, followed by the sounds of feet stumbling away were all that the men heard.

"From what I can tell, yes, magic is a touchy subject here. Good thing he was drunk, he won't tell anyone." Jace examined the large glass bottle the man had been drinking out of. "I've never seen markings like that before. Looks like we will need a language-spell" Jace thought for a moment, he hadn't had one prepared. "Here we are." with a flick of his fingers, the text seemed to take a new shape for the two. "Aha, we can read it now. Oh, and speak it too. It's wine, though I've never heard of this kind before. More examples of how this place is different."

"All right, no magic for now. What about the way we dress, will that matter?" Neither of them had seen any of the local's apparel clearly, but they both could guess it would be different. They came out of the shadows, watching for people, drawn to an area lit up brightly even though it was the dead of night.

"There. Wow, that's a little different from what we're wearing." Jace cast a simple illusion over both of them, and they were dressed in the same strange apparel as the people he picked out. They slept lightly, because they had no roof under their heads, and only the hard ground to sleep on.

The next morning after a terribly sleepless sleep, they went further into the city. Signs with bright colors were everywhere, red blue and one with a giant yellow M, but neither of the two could guess what it was for. Different kinds of people milled around, different kinds of smells wafted through the air, and similar sounds of a city could be heard all around them.

"How many signs do these people need? The buildings around here are covered in them!"

"They look like they're for things, or people." They were bewildered by the volume of words and lights and… everything. "They stood there for a few minutes, taking in the sights and sensations of wonder and awe at so many things.

"All right. Something smells good, and I want to eat. Let's figure out how to get some currency and get food. Jace, how do people get stuff they want here?" Jace sat down at a bench, Gideon next to him. He stared off into the distance.

"Money. Dollars, or bucks, or cash. That is the name of currency here. From what I can hear, it is casually called bucks, though I have no idea why, but a more formal term is dollars. It is usually referred to in a group as cash. Oh, and it's made out of paper."

"Paper money? Why not coins? Paper could be printed by anyone, or it could get wet or something!"

"Whatever. The problem is, we need a way to get it."

"How are we supposed to do that?"

"I have a few ideas, but they all involve less than lawful activities."

"Maybe we could be professional bounty hunters, most places have money on criminal's heads."

"Now there's an idea, we could get money, and look for Garruk!"

They spent a few minutes asking for directions, but eventually they found their way to a large building, with blue and white glass windows, and the large letters NYPD on the front wall.

 **XXXXXX**

 _Thoughts?_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: On to chapter 2! I've never written with anyone before and I'm finding it fun blending our styles of writing :) This is also arguably my first case fic, and I hope you are enjoying the story as much as I am. Thank you so much for reading!_

 _Co-written with Bossybossninja._

 **XXXXXX**

 _I'm being followed._ I could tell, my predatory instincts that had stayed with me giving off the feeling, and I turned a corner, fading into the shadows, waiting to see who had made the mistake of trying to hunt me. But no one came. Slowly, I came out of the shadows, and I got that feeling again. But no one was on the street. I looked, and a box-like thing was sticking out of a wall, and I knew that was what was watching me. With a quick thought, I released a corruptive magic, and the wall around the object, the thing itself, and the metal wires all corroded at a rate much too fast to be natural, all the while I stood still. With a crash, it fell, and I was satisfied. My hunt could continue.

 _I can almost smell him. Humans, the fools, think they can hide from me. There!_ A man with a case in his hand was walking towards a yellow metal thing, he got inside, and it started moving with an unnatural sound. _This will not do._ I found the correct spell, and a web of vines covered in thorns began to engulf the thing. With a screech, it stopped, and I approached, taking my axe off my back. A door opened, and my quarry took a step outside that would be his last. "Die, planeswalker!" With a great leap forward, I swung my axe, timing the jump with a downward cleave, and buried it into his shoulder, the momentum carrying it into his lower chest, killing him instantly.

"Wha- No! Please!" I looked behind me, and another man had come out of the thing on the other side, but the thorn-covered vines that were still rapidly growing caught on his clothes, and were beginning to crawl up his legs, entangling him further. _This is a regular human. I have no quarrel with him._ So I ceased the spell, and the vines stopped growing. I walked back to the body of the planeswalker I had slain, and took a closer look. _He wasn't the one either._ Frustration pent up inside me. _I must find the one that did this to me._ Pain wracked my body. _I can't even think straight._ I wanted to just be alone, in the forest, but every living thing I touched died. _Speaking of which_ , I thought, and once again, an instinct I did not recognize drove me to touch the man. I felt the last of his life's energy become my own, and only a husk of a body remained.

 **XXXXXX**

"Excuse me, is this the reward for any information on, 'Gregory Smith?'" Jace pointed towards a paper featuring a man, a convicted and escaped murderer.

"Yeah, Greg has a $10,000 reward on any info that leads to his arrest. Not that it is going to happen or anything. He's more likely than not already out of the country, or hunkering down somewhere he can't stir up trouble. Who are you? You know anything on this guy?"

"No, we were just looking around, I'm Gideon and this is Jace."

"Gideon, Jace? You got last names? You from around here?"

"Um… Gideon Jura and Jace Beleren. And no, we're from… out of town." Espo wrote the men's names in his notebook.

"Jura and Beleren," he mumbled. "Huh, never heard of those names before. All right. If that's it, would you excuse me? I have some business to take care of."

"Thank you for your time, Mr. …"

"Detective Esposito, at your service." And with that, the two left the building.

"Down that way. I have an idea." Jace led Gideon down to an isolated bench, where he explained what the two were going to do. "What I'll do is, to find this, 'Greg,' I can use a simple divination spell. It should be able to pinpoint his location, because he has no magic to protect him. Then we find him, and tell the police where he is, and get money for us to live off of while we search for Garruk."

"I don't know if it will be that easy, what if the police don't take our word for it?"

"You're right, we need evidence." The pair thought in silence for a while when Gideon remembered something.

"Hey, how was that man's image on the paper?"

"Umm, let me figure that out." Jace closed his eyes, and after a minute or two, Gideon broke the silence.

"I hate and love your telepathy, it feels like cheating."

"My ability to read minds has already proved useful time and time again, now shut up, I'm concentrating." Eventually Jace saw an image in another person's mind. "Pictures, photographs, all taken by a device called a camera.

"Wow, that is, dare I say it, really cool."

"Agreed. Now, if we get a camera and take a picture of the person and the location, that should be enough to convince them, and get our reward."

"How are we supposed to get a camera?"

"I'm a little rusty as an artificer, it isn't exactly my forte, but I can replicate the camera with a spell." Falling into a deep concentration, Jace drew upon the mana in the ocean that was next to the city, and a digital camera slowly materialized in his hand.

"Why can't you do that with money?"

"Paper money, remember?"

"What about coins?"

"The coins here are only worth a fraction of paper money, and something even this size," Jace sighed, "was exhausting."

"All right. Let's move."

"Gimme a sec, I still gotta divine the location." Jace recovered from the fatigue, and once again drew upon the mana in the ocean. "That way." Jace led the pair down alleys, across streets, over a bridge, and finally to a part of the huge city with only large houses.

"Is this it?"

"Yeah." They finally arrived at a house, not unlike any of the others they had seen in the area, a two-story brick building with metal gates and barred windows.

"Do you think he's in there?"

"Only one way to find out." With a twist of a ring, Jace, his clothes, and the camera he was holding vanished from sight. "Be back in a minute." Gideon hated when he did that. The bodiless voice unnerved him, even though he had heard it far too many times before. Jace silently walked up the steps, and looked through a window with open curtains. No one there. He circled the house a few times, and almost was going to consider finding a way in, when he heard the muffled sound of footsteps. Looking through the window, Jace could see the murderer. He brought the camera up to his face, looked through the lens, and once he faced the window, took the picture.

The man stopped. For whatever reason, he had sensed something wrong. He walked up to the window, and for whatever reason, even though Jace knew he was fully invisible, without a shadow even, he was sweating with distress. Gregory was looking right through him.

He turned away, shrugging his shoulders. With a silent sigh of relief, Jace came back to the street, found Gideon, who had wisely taken to walking around like he was doing something instead of stopping and spying at a house.

"Let's go." Jace materialized in front of Gideon, and after recovering from the initial shock, followed him back to the police station.

"Wait, we need something to tell them where this is, give me a second." Jace searched around with his mind, and heard the thoughts of a man on the other side of the street. "An address, that's how to find places here. He took a picture of the building, and the street name, and they continued to the station.

 **XXXXXX**

"Kate, this is Rachel Waters from the museum. You remember her from the mummy case a couple years back?"

"Yes, I remember. Hello, Dr. Waters."

They shook hands and got to it.

"What can you tell me about our mummy?"

"Well… It's not really a mummy. It is, but it isn't, you know? It's not unlike Ötzi, – the Iceman, but looking at what's left of the clothing, I can tell it's modern. Also, there's the smell. Most mummies just smell a little musty. They're dried out, and internal organs are usually removed – at least those artificially mummified. Natural mummies can smell or not depending on where they were preserved."

"Like the Iceman was buried for 5000 odd years under a glacier," Kate nodded.

"Exactly. Or freeze dried on top of the Andes, among others. But this is like nothing I've ever smelled before. There's something else going on here."

Kate's phone rang.

"Excuse me."

As she walked away to take her call, Lanie covered the body and placed it in a special container so the stink wouldn't permeate the morgue. It was worse than any death odor Lanie had ever come across.

"Apparently, we've got another one," Kate announced. Dr. Waters, will you come with us? See if you can make anything of it? You know more about bodies that look like this than anyone else."

"I don't know how much help I can be, but I'll come."

"Thank you."

 **XXXXXX**

"What is going on over there?" Gideon gestured to a street corner that was swarmed by those metal things, and men in similar uniforms. The area was fenced in with a yellow tape. Jace let his eyes become unfocused, reaching out with his mind. He picked around, and got a feeling for what was going on.

"The machines are called cars. They move, and people can get in them, kind of like a really fast armored transport, but with wheels. The people are around a body." Jace was still poking around with his mind when Gideon noticed a strangely familiar, but unnerving sight.

"Jace look!"

"What?"

"That car!" following the pointed finger with his eyes, Jace saw a car that was entirely draped in vines. A few of the police officers were taking pictures, but of what they couldn't tell.

The two made their way across the street. A small crowd had gathered around the scene, staying behind the tape line, a policeman watching them.

"Would vines like that grow on these cars?" asked Gideon.

"No, the cars are metal. This could be magic."

Just then Esposito came into view talking to another man.

"There's Detective," said Jace. "We can show him our photo and claim the reward."

"Yes," replied Gideon. "I'm getting hungry again."

Gideon lifted the tape, and ducked under.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" The man in the uniform grabbed Gideon's arm and pulled him back to the tape.

"We need to speak to Detective," Gideon protested, pointing from Jace to himself, then toward the scene.

"Which one?"

"Which one, what?

"Which detective, numbskull. There are two over there."

"He said his name was Detective Expo something."

"Detective Esposito? Hang on. Stay there!" The officer moved to Esposito and Ryan, keeping a close eye on the pair.

"How confusing, they have the same first name," Jace mentioned.

"I know. Easier to call them if you need them both."

"Yeah, but if you only need one?"

"I guess use their last names."

Esposito looked up as the officer explained what had happened. He saw the two and frowned.

"Hey, Jace and… Gideon, right?"

"That's correct, Detective. We have some information for you."

"Well, I'm kind of busy right now, maybe come down to the station later?"

"We need our reward!" exclaimed Gideon.

Espo glared.

"Is that what this is about?"

"Yes," replied Jace. "We have a photograph of Gregory Smith and an address."

Espo was confused. "How long have you had this photo and address? Why didn't you give it to me before?"

Now the two men shared Esposito's confusion. "We didn't have it before."

"This smells. You're telling me that you found the wanted poster, decided to go for the reward, and found the guy in less than a day?"

"Yes." Jace replied with a sincerity that stunned Esposito.

Espo stood back, looking at the pair.

"Well, Smith isn't my case, and I'm busy right now. Head over to the station and I'll meet you there. No…" He turned to the man next to him. "Call a car to take them in. I don't want them to go anywhere until I can get back and contact the detectives on this case. Have them put them in holding if needed."

"Yes, sir." The officer went to his car and radioed for another.

"What are we gonna do now?"

"Sit down, and have some fun answering some nice little questions."

He watched as the car drove the two men away, then turned to Beckett's car which had just pulled in.

"Hey Espo. What's up?

 **XXXXXX**

 _What did you think?_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Shout out to Bossybossninja, it has been a blast so far writing with you! I've never realized how much fun it could be to bounce ideas off someone else. Thank you for PMing me! :)_

 _I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! *reposted to fix a couple of things*_

 **XXXXXX**

"Yo, Beckett. Couple of strange dudes on their way to the precinct. They say they've got some information on the Gregory Smith case."

"Gregory Smith?" Kate asked. "I think I heard about that one. Wasn't that out of the 19th precinct?"

Esposito flipped pages in his notebook. "Yeah, I have a buddy over there. I'll give him a call to let him know about these guys.

"Why did they come to you?"

"I dunno. They stopped by the precinct asking about the reward poster. I was there. Then they showed up here saying they had an address and photo of Smith."

"That sounds suspicious. Do you want to follow up with them or call the 19th?"

Beckett eyed Esposito's fidgeting. She could tell he wanted to go.

"Both. I know I'm needed here, but these guys..." he trailed off.

"Got to you huh? Okay, um… Why don't you head back to the station then? I hate to take you off this case, but from what you're describing, those two seem to have attached themselves to you.

Esposito nodded and waved his arm at the scene behind him. "Yeah, and this one's a little too weird for my tastes."

Kate snorted. "Not exactly a 'Jack shot Jill over Bill', is it?

"Tell me about it. Definitely 'Beckett flavored'."

"You gonna make them squirm in the box?" she teased.

The grin on Esposito's face was evil.

"Hell, yeah. I'll let 'em sweat for an hour before calling the other detectives in. You call Castle yet?"

"Oh, crap, no. I was in the morgue with Lanie and Dr. Waters when I got the call, and we came straight here."

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed.

"Castle? Hey, we've got a scene, you in? Right, I know, dumb question. 45th and 9th. All right, see you soon."

She watched Esposito drive off then called out.

"Ryan! What have you got?"

 **XXXXXX**

 _Different prey struggles different ways._ I thought of all the planeswalkers I had killed. _Every kill, every death brings me closer to the one that did this._ I had to remind myself of that. Killing wasn't my favorite thing to do, but I found it necessary. I had to do something to find what had been so far unreachable, and all that filled my mind was anger towards that anonymous planeswalker that had laid this curse on me. _Was this the one? I can almost hear that piece of the blind eternities in her, closer, closer._

 **XXXXXX**

"I'm telling you Beckett, this is so cool!"

Castle practically skipped out of the elevator, followed by a disgruntled Beckett.

"Things that don't make sense are _not_ cool, Castle," she grumbled.

"I mean, where else could those vines have come from?" Castle ignored her, his nine-year-old enthusiasm getting the better of him. "The cab driver said they came from nowhere, which could mean out of thin air, which means…"

Kate slammed her notebook on her desk.

"I. Don't. Know. Castle!" she snapped, effectively shutting him up. She took a deep breath and continued when she saw the look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Castle. But I don't like things that don't have explanations."

"I know, but…"

Esposito poked his head out of the interrogation room.

"Then I doubt you'll like this, but I think you need to hear it." He went back into the room and Castle and Beckett followed into the observation room.

"All right, Mr. Beleren. Tell me the story about showing up at our crime scene this morning again."

"Gideon and I were on our way here, when we noticed the vines encompassing the car. We then saw you and went over to speak to you."

"Tell me about the vines."

"They had probably been made with magic."

"Magic." Esposito stood and turned toward the mirror. "You expect me to believe that?" He turned back to the table and got into Gideon's face. "Magic isn't real. It's all tricks and sleight of hand. How did you know Smith's whereabouts? And what do you know about the scene from this morning?"

Gideon sat back in his chair, trying to get away from Esposito's antagonism.

"Magic _is_ real, Detective," Jace told him. "Your disbelief doesn't change that. The fact that your world doesn't use magic doesn't change its reality. We used magic to find Gregory Smith. Magic was used at your crime scene this morning."

"Are you confessing to murder?" Esposito was still angry.

"Of course not," Gideon shot back. "But we may know who did."

"Spill."

Jace and Gideon looked at each other. Gideon nodded and Jace answered.

"You're looking for Garruk. So are we."

 **XXXXXX**

Beckett sat in Observation with her mouth agape. She turned to Castle who had stood and was bouncing on his toes in excitement.

"Beckett, you have to admit this is the best case ever!"

 **XXXXXX**

 _This one is a fighter, she needs something to help flush her out._ My wild instincts were never too far away from me; I could tell so much about a person by their looks. And she looked capable. _But not enough. An easy kill, but still more sport in it, because she would last longer._ After a second, I knew what I would summon to help me kill her. Drawing upon the mana around me, a huge beast - a Blastoderm - materialized from the Æther, right beside me. A mix of rhino and tree standing seven feet tall, it would do the job. _Go there._ A simple mental command, but it knew exactly what I wanted. It stalked off, readying itself for the ambush. The trees provided excellent cover, and I prepared myself as well. I had to stay moving, though, because if I stayed too long in a single spot, the plants would wither around me, giving away my location.

 **XXXXXX**

Kate was in Washington Market Park, jogging down a path with trees on either side. She was cooling off; the recent events were still a lot to wrap her head around. She was breathing in the brisk evening air. The leaves were rustling, a small breeze catching the hundreds of trees and keeping the air nice and cool. Finally, she stopped to catch her breath. She had been at this for some time, going through all the possibilities for this new case. It just didn't add up. Something was missing.

Pulling out her phone, she dialed Castle.

"Ah, Detective, to what do I owe this late night call?"

Kate snorted. "Why do I usually call, Castle?"

"You have another body? Is this turning into a serial case? With magic?"

"Don't get excited. I hope we don't get any more," she huffed, still a little out of breath.

"Are you all right?" he asked. "Where are you?"

"I'm at Washington Market, jogging."

"At a park? This late?"

"Castle, I'm a cop. I have a gun, and I know how to use it."

She heard a twig snap. Brushing off the sound as someone else walking, she reached for a small water bottle in her running pack. Taking a drink, she heard a growl, almost like a dog, but much… deeper.

"Castle, stay with me."

"Beckett? Kate, are you okay?"

"So far."

She capped the bottle and set it down. The growling stopped. She looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There were bushes, and trees, and… What? A tree that didn't look like a tree caught her eye. It was shaped differently, most of it was behind a bush. It didn't move at all, it was just… different.

Kate picked up her bottle. She turned to move on, but something was wrong. She turned back to look at that weird tree, but it wasn't there. She pulled her gun. The low, even growl cut through the silence. There. The tree had moved, and – was moving! The thing started towards her, and now it hardly looked like a harmless piece of the vegetation. It had a resemblance to a rhino, but it had tusks that curled around its face, and it looked like it was part-plant. There were even leaves growing out of its back, she realized in horror. It had been slowly advancing on her, and she was slowly backing away, but then she ran.

"Castle, I'm in trouble!"

"Kate? I'll call 911!"

"No! I need you to stay with me!"

A howl pierced the air, a guttural cry that sent birds flying away in all directions, and Kate wished that she could fly like a bird. The beast had begun to chase her, and she was only able to outdistance it by the compactness of the trees, and the size of the thing chasing her. She was able to weave through, while the beast laid out a path of destruction in its wake. Kate got a couple of shots off, but wasn't sure she hit the thing. As she continued to run, the creature finally caught up to her. It vaulted through the air, and its tusks hit her leg. Hard. She struggled to get up, but knew that the bone had probably shattered, and the pain was unbearable. A voice, speaking in a language she did not understand came from her left. "This is all that the planeswalkers here can do? Run? No, they must be hiding the one somewhere, I will find that one. Is it you? Are you the planeswalker that cursed me?" She turned to the man, and saw her assailant.

Kate could see the person approaching her. She could see the hate in his eyes, practically radiating off of him, and then in his hand, the biggest axe she had ever seen. With a word, he created a ball of dark energy, somehow taking the light out of the very air. She knew about fear from times before, but this was different. This was fear of something more than death, what it was, she didn't know, but the feeling was there still the same. He smiled. He looked at the beast, and with a word, it vanished. Then, he stopped next to her. She could see him, standing there and now, she knew that she would die. In a burst of motion, he plunged down his hand, she kicked out at his legs, and then a wave of pain washed over her.

The last thing she heard was Castle calling her through her headphones.

"Kate!"

 **XXXXXX**

Kate opened her eyes. "Where am I?"

"Don't worry, Kate, we found you before Garruk."

"What? Where was I? How did I not die?" She sat up, and noticed that everything about her felt fine, even her leg. "How is my leg fine?"

"That is a lot of questions. I'll answer them as best as I can." Jace paused for a moment. "You were in Washington Market Park, but now you are on the roof of the police station. You did not die because – well – you went into the Blind Eternities. And Gideon healed your leg."

"What? What does all of that mean?

"Kate, you're a planeswalker."

 **XXXXXX**

 _A/N 2: One thing I noticed in writing this chapter, is that the 'believer's' – Castle and Ryan – haven't had much to do yet. The story has just gravitated towards Beckett and Espo. I've always been a 'go with what comes' kind of writer, but I'm hoping to give them something to do in the future!_

 _I'd love to hear what you think!_


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Sorry this chapter took longer than expected to get out, life's been super busy lately. I hope you all enjoy this installment!_

 _Cowritten with Bossybossninja_

 **XXXXXX**

"No!" Garruk seethed with anger. The woman he was about to slay had planeswalked – just as he was delivering the killing blow. "Argh!" He lost control, the curse amplifying his rage, and fueling his body. He drove the spell meant for Kate into a nearby tree, and poured in all the mana that he could find, making the death seep into the ground, and spread. It went, like a blot of ink in wet paper, spreading from the trunk of the tree to others, killing and withering everything it touched. It was only contained by the borders of the park, turning the trees, grass, and water an oily black, the stain of death on what once full of life. Even the walkways were blackened and cracked.

He turned and disappeared into the night.

 **XXXXX**

"What are you talking about 'The Blind Eternities'?" Kate asked. "What's a planeswalker? You're making no sense."

"Much of your world makes no sense to us," replied Gideon. "Call it even." Kate scowled and Gideon raised his hands in supplication. This wasn't the time.

Jace interrupted the conversation, getting to the point.

"You were born with a planeswalker's spark. If ignited through a traumatic event, you become a planeswalker and can travel the multiverse."

Kate looked around at her surroundings then looked at Gideon sharply.

"Traumatic event?"

"Yes, when the Blastoderm and Garruk attacked you. I'd say it's safe to assume that an event like that would shake you up, and more than a little, right?"

"That's not what I'm asking. Did it have to be an attack by a monster to do it? I mean, I've had traumatic events. My mother was murdered when I was nineteen," she pulled the collar of her shirt down, showing a puckered scar. "I was shot last May. Why the hell wasn't this 'spark' ignited then?"

Jace stared at the scar in wonder.

"How are you alive?"

"Good doctors," she let go of her collar. "Answer the question." Jace shook his head. A world without any magic, yet their healers could do wonders.

"I'm not sure. But since your world is magically dead – and I still cannot believe it functions without magic – it may simply need to happen more than once. Also, it could be that true magic needed to be in your presence to spark. So, in that sense, yes. It had to be an attack by something magical."

"I don't believe in magic."

"Yet here you are."

Kate stared back into Gideon's face. He didn't seem to be lying, but she couldn't get her head around it.

"No, see, here's what I think _really_ happened," she continued in a tone usually reserved for interrogations. "I decided to mix up my routine. I usually go for a run in the morning, a couple miles down the street and back. Not this time. I was jogging at night in a new place. That right there amps up the wariness I was feeling. I was talking to Castle…"

"That's impossible," Gideon interrupted. "Unless he abandoned you. You were alone."

Kate looked at the man like he was an idiot.

"On the phone," she deadpanned. "Anyway. I heard a noise in the bushes, a dog – an admittedly _big_ dog – jumped out and started chasing me. It was probably sicced on me by the guy who attacked me. I was knocked to the ground, in my panic I thought I was injured but obviously it wasn't as bad as I thought, and somehow you guys got there in time to stop him. For which I'm grateful – don't get me wrong. Anything weird I thought I saw was caused by imagination brought on by fear and an unfamiliar place. No. Magic. Required."

Gideon's mouth was open and Jace stared in disbelief. How could she not believe her own eyes?

The silence was interrupted by the buzz of Kate's phone.

"What is that?"

"Probably Castle."

"What?"

"On the phone. I'm going to answer, okay?"

"Okay. How?"

"Like this." Kate pulled out the vibrating phone out of her pocket, and made a face of disgust as she saw her torn headphones.

"Jeez, these earbuds were brand new."

She pulled out the ripped cord, accepted the call, and pressed it to her ear, walking away from Gideon and Jace.

"Beckett."

 _"_ _Kate!"_ It was Castle. _"Oh, my God, are you all right? Where are you? Have you seen the news?"_

"I'm fine. I'm at the precinct."

 _"_ _Really? I just got off the phone with Ryan, he hasn't seen you, and I thought you weren't on call today."_

Kate looked around.

"I'm…. On the roof. Don't ask, I don't know. What happened?"

There was a pause.

"Castle?"

 _"_ _Washington Market Park is a wasteland."_

 **XXXXXX**

As Kate strode off to take her call Jace and Gideon stared after her.

"Are you sure they don't use magic here? Gideon asked. "I mean how is she communicating through that thing if not by magic?"

"I was thinking the same thing, Gideon," Jace answered. "He paused. "And without mana? The people here don't use it, that just doesn't make sense."

Gideon shook his head as he watched Kate click her phone off, look at something on the small screen, and walk back to them, seemingly in shock.

"Are you done with that?" Gideon looked annoyed that she had walked away.

"Yeah." She had the strangest look on her face, thoughts of confusion, disbelief and anger were swirling around in her head like a hurricane.

"All right. I'm going to prove this, once and for all, and get us down."

"How, do you have a secret expandable ladder in that backpack of yours?"

"Just give me a second." Jace stepped forward. "I don't, but I can pull some strings in the Æther." And with that, they all appeared on the sidewalk below, still outside the building. "There. I simply teleported us down. What do you have to say about that?" he asked smugly.

Kate stared – dumbfounded, frightened and confused. She recovered her senses. "I don't know," she muttered. "I can't explain it, but I don't believe it. I can't believe it." She set off at a brisk pace to the front of the building.

"What – How?" Both planeswalkers stared at each other, and this time it was their turn to be dumbfounded at her reaction.

 **XXXXXX**

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, what we are saying is true, she simply won't believe us."

Castle had come to the precinct looking for Beckett. He was a little concerned when he couldn't find her – she'd told him she was here after all, but before he could ask an officer, he saw Jace and Gideon and they told him the story.

He eyeballed the two, not knowing exactly what to feel. He _wanted_ to believe, but most of his teasing was exactly that. A tease. He loved driving Beckett crazy with his wacky theories, but faced with the possibility of this being real, he didn't know what to think. They didn't seem to be lying, though. And remembering the vines surrounding the cab – and cab driver, Castle was almost as freaked out as Beckett was.

"You have got to believe us. It just makes sense." The earnest sincerity that Gideon spoke with sent another round of doubts through Castle's mind.

Because it _didn't_ make sense.

"All right. We still need to get a reward, and that's what we came here for." Jace was exasperated at the disbelief that everyone showed, like the very idea of something that had been a part of their entire lives was a thing that they could deny with words. They went to the desk sergeant to find out where to go to pick up their money.

"Okay," the sergeant pointed down a hallway. "Go see Jenkins, down this hall and third door on the right."

The two found the officer, and after a half hour of paperwork, they were handed a check for $10,000.

"What is this? This isn't money." Gideon protested, affronted that he and Jace were being cheated out of their reward.

The officer who cut the check looked at Gideon like he had two heads.

"It's. A. Check," the man said slowly, as if Gideon was mentally deficient. Noticing Rick, he called out. "Hey, Castle!" Could you come here for a sec?" Castle had been standing at the elevator but turned at the voice.

"What's up?"

"Didn't I see you talking to these guys earlier?" Under his breath so only Rick could hear, he went on. "They seem a little…" he twirled his finger at his ear. "You wanna explain a check to them?"

"Ah, sure. Come on you two, I'll take you to the bank."

 **XXXXXX**

Kate was sitting in a small hole in the wall coffee shop her father had told her about. She didn't think Castle knew about this one – at least he'd never brought her coffee from here.

And she was okay with that. It was nice to have a place that was all hers, so to speak. She'd never even brought Lanie. It was a place to unwind, even to hide – not just from Castle when he drove her more nuts than usual, but from difficult cases.

And this case was a doozy.

Kate pulled the photo Castle had sent her of the park up on her phone. She couldn't believe the devastation. If she hadn't recognized the buildings across the street, she would have thought she was looking at an old picture of the area around Mount St. Helens just after it erupted. Everything was gray and dead, with one spot as black as the asphalt on the streets.

She couldn't tell from the picture, but she wondered if that spot was where she'd been standing when the attack happened. She wanted to know if other people had posted photos of the park, but this café didn't have Wi-Fi, (one of the reasons she liked it – it was much less crowded) and she didn't want to use her data for something not work related.

 _Blind Eternities._ That's what Jace had called it, but what the hell was it? All she remembered was jogging in the park last night, being attacked by… something, and the next thing she knew it was morning and she was on the precinct's roof.

 _Magic._

No, Kate Beckett was nothing if not rational. There had to be a reasonable explanation for all this – even if she couldn't think of one.

Glancing at her watch Kate stood. She wanted to go back to the park and make sure this wasn't all a dream or some sort of elaborate prank Castle was playing on her. It wasn't funny if that's what it was.

God, she wished that's what it was.

 **XXXXXX**

"Do you think you can do this?"

"Yeah, I get it. You order your food, then you pay the money. Then, after a few minutes, you get your food. Just like anywhere else."

"All right, if you say so. This does not look like anywhere else."

"You can say that again. Who names the place where they sell food Terrific Nick's?"

"I agree, Gideon. They should have named it with something at least somewhat resembling a food product. Or maybe add a 'food' or 'food shop' to the end. You would think it would be a tavern by the name."

"Different plane, different customs."

"Yeah, whatever, I'm starving. Get two of those things those people are getting." Jace pointed at two young adults eating a slice of pizza.

"What even is that?"

"I don't really care, let's just get some food!" Gideon could not disagree. They got their food, and continued for the rest of the day exploring the hundreds of shops that the city had to offer. They purchased, among other things, clothes, food, and other necessities that they could carry in backpacks they bought for themselves. They also purchased phones (The purchase took several hours as neither of them knew a thing about how to buy or set up a phone.)

"Hey, Jace, do you think that they found a hotel for us to live in yet?"

"I don't know. I'll call, if I can remember how to." Jace pulled out the phone, calling the number on the slip of paper Castle had given to him.

 _"_ _Castle."_

"Castle," Jace was startled at the sound of the voice on the other end. He cleared his throat. "Gideon and I were wondering… we… you told us we needed a place to stay and you would take care of it?"

 _"_ _Yeah, I talked to Esposito, and although he's not too happy about it, we've decided you should stay with me at my loft."_

"Why would he not be happy?"

 _"_ _He doesn't trust you."_

Jace bristled. "We have been cooperative, we have helped – explaining who and what Garruk is, we saved Beckett from Garruk…"

 _"_ _You have no record of your existence in any database across the country, Espo's checked. You asked a couple of questions about a wanted suspect, then only a few hours later, walked into the precinct with information about where said suspect was. And your only explanation was 'magic'. He's suspicious of you."_

"Why would we lie to him?"

 _"_ _Because he thinks you're involved somehow."_ There was a pause on the line. _"Look, nobody wants to believe in this stuff more than I do, just ask Beckett. But what you've described just doesn't happen."_

During the conversation Jace and Gideon had continued walking when they came across a familiar, yet unnerving sight.

Washington Market Park.

A crowd was milling around the edges of the park, a low rumble of people talking.

"What the hell happened?"

"How isn't anything else burned?"

"What could have done this?"

The mixed voices of the people blended together, the confusion heavy in the air.

"This was the park where he attacked Kate," Gideon whispered to Jace.

Jace spoke into the phone again.

"What if we healed the park? Would that make you believe?"

 _"_ _What? What do you mean?"_

"Just that. What if we restored the park using only magic?"

There was a long pause.

 _"_ _Yes, I think that would do it."_

 **XXXXXX**

 _A/N 2: I'd love to hear your thoughts!_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: We're back! I'm so sorry this chapter has taken so long, between holidays and my co-writer heading to Hawaii for a week (lucky skunk! :)) It's been hard to find time to write._

 _Things are beginning to come to a head in this story, I think. One or two chapters left. I hope you've been enjoying this foray into mega AU. It's been fun to write and learn about another fandom. Thanks again Bossybossninja for asking me if I was interested! I hope you enjoy this chapter._

 **XXXXXX**

Beckett stepped out of her cruiser and stared in awe. Castle's photo did not do the devastation justice.

It was beyond horrifying.

The damage was mostly confined to the park Kate noticed, with the surrounding sidewalks also cracked and burned. She watched a group of firefighters, police officers, bomb squad personnel, and members of the Parks Department pointing at the destruction left behind by… whatever the hell did this.

She stepped up to the crime scene tape – because what else could this be but a crime? She showed her badge to an officer behind the barrier and asked, "What happened? Is there any explanation yet?"

"Dunno, Detective," the man said, motioning a news camera to move further back. "Please keep back, sir, we don't know what we're dealing with yet." He turned back to Beckett and went on in a low voice, "It looks like a bomb went off, but no explosive has been detected anywhere, not to mention nobody heard a blast last night, and there'd be more damage. A couple of people reported some gunshots in the area, but no idea if that had anything to do with what happened here."

Kate opened her mouth to ask another question, but saw two familiar people at the edge of the crowd. What were they doing back here? Were they involved in the destruction? She shook her head. That would lend credence to the whole ridiculous magic thing they had going, and for her own sanity, she just couldn't accept that.

"Thanks for the info…" she looked at his name badge, "… Garrett."

He nodded and went back to keeping the crowd at bay along with two other officers.

Beckett moved toward Jace and Gideon, careful to keep out of their line of sight. Just as she moved within earshot, she noticed Jace click off a cell phone.

"And how do you propose _we_ heal the park?" she overheard Gideon ask. "That's not our magic."

"Not _us,_ Gideon. Nissa."

Kate frowned. These two really seemed to believe they had real magic – whatever _real_ meant in this case. And what the hell was a _'Nissa'_? She watched Gideon nod in understanding and they both closed their eyes in concentration. What were they doing?

A minute later her jaw dropped as a black line with a white aura on either side appeared out of nowhere, somehow folding the two men into nothingness. Kate looked around, but no one else was paying attention to the two men. The black line folded into itself somehow, and became a black dot, hovering in the air. It disappeared with a flash of pure white flame, though no heat was released. She looked back and saw that not a single other person had seen any of the events occur.

"What the…?" Kate stood a moment in amazement. She looked at the place where Jace and Gideon had been, and somehow, it felt oddly familiar. She felt a pull, like the tide going in, drawing her towards it. _What is this?_ Suddenly she became aware of this… energy around her. It couldn't really be described. She felt it, in the city around her, even in the ocean, though she couldn't even see the Hudson River from here, close as it was, let alone the Upper Bay. She didn't know how to feel about this. The stuff almost seemed attracted to her.

Using her mind, Kate gathered the energy, and she could swear that she knew how to do the thing that Jace and Gideon did. The stuff, energy, whatever seemed to light on fire, then she really began to feel that tidal pull, she dove into it, though if anyone had seen her, she simply would have folded into the same nothingness Jace and Gideon had with a burst of light.

 **XXXXXX**

Jace stepped out of the Blind Eternities, and onto a world acutely different from Earth, Gideon close behind him.

"All right, we're here. They said they would be staying in Akoum right?"

"Yeah. Let's go." They both started to walk when they heard something fall to the ground behind them.

"What is – Kate! What are you doing here?"

"Ow. That hurt." Kate got up, brushed the dirt off from her jeans, and looked around. "Where am I?"

"Uhh… you're in Zendikar."

"Zendi – what?"

"Zendikar. This is one of the many planes in the multiverse. And because you are a planeswalker, you can travel between them."

"What?" Kate couldn't believe what she was hearing, but as she looked around, she saw she was definitely _not_ in New York. "So, this is a different planet? I just kind of beamed here?"

"Look, for now, just come with us, we will explain everything once we get to Nissa and Chandra."

The three moved through a forest down a well-used path. Kate gazed up at the trees – taller than any in the woods by her dad's cabin, even taller than the sequoias she'd seen in California. She heard strange noises and rustling and decided she didn't want to know what kind of animals were here. She hoped they wouldn't run into any – she had a feeling her gun wouldn't work on this magical world.

Suddenly she realized she was falling behind Jace and Gideon since she was gawking so much. She ran to catch up, and noticed the terrain changing as they moved to a higher elevation.

It didn't take long for the two men. They followed the narrow mountain path until they arrived at a small village. Immediately they saw the two walking up the path toward them.

"Wait a second," Kate said nervously. She needed to get her bearings and didn't want to show her weakness – at least not until she knew if these women were friendly or not.

"What's wrong, Kate?" asked Jace.

"Do you trust these two?" she asked.

Gideon stared.

"Of course. We're here to meet with Nissa in particular, but Chandra will help us as well."

"I'm just gonna go…" she waved a hand behind her. "… Over there… Out of the way."

"That's not necess…" Jace said, but Kate moved off to stand behind a large boulder. Hidden, but close enough to listen to what the others were saying.

"Haven't we shown her we're trustworthy?" complained Gideon. "What's it going to take before she accepts us at our word?"

"Perhaps she's been burned by people she's trusted before," replied Jace. "And being that she's from a plane where magic is viewed with suspicion at best – well – I guess I can understand her wariness."

Gideon shrugged, seeing the point as Jace approached the women.

"Chandra, Nissa. It is good to see you."

"And you, Jace. To what do we owe the visit?"

"It's the mission we're on. We've tracked Garruk down to a plane called Earth." He explained the plane to them, and recounted their journey.

"No magic at all?"

"None. At least, real magic. There are 'magicians' who are nothing more than tricksters. They do have a strange thing they call electricity. It only powers artifact-like machines, though. That seems to be the closest thing they have to magic. Even the mana is old, as if it hasn't been used in a long time – or ever."

Kate watched a bird land on the rock she was hiding behind. It fascinated her. It had brilliant blue plumage, with orange feathers behind its head. It began chirping a birdcall different than anything she had ever heard. She hoped she wouldn't be noticed.

No such luck.

"Who's there?" A woman with dark hair, and pointed ears (?) called out. "You, behind the rock, show yourself."

Kate came out from her hiding place, a little sheepishly.

"How did you know I was there?"

"The bird told me." The woman in front of her, Nissa, said it like it was the most natural thing, like anyone could do it.

"Uh-huh…" Kate's skeptical tone was unmistakable.

"It's true. I'm connected to this plane much more than you may think." The woman narrowed her eyes. "So you are the planeswalker Kate."

"Uh, yeah, I guess so… Well, I'm Kate anyway."

God, could she sound more like an idiot? If any proof was needed that she was out of her element, that was it. She rolled her eyes at herself.

"Tell me, what's a planeswalker again?"

Chandra began her explanation.

"You were born with the plansewalker's spark. It is a piece of the blind eternities, the place you went through to get here. When your spark ignites, and it would seem that it did just before you were killed by Garruk, it allows you to enter the blind eternities without dying."

"So… before I entered these... blind eternities, I felt this energy around me, and I used it to go into… whatever that was."

"The energy you felt is called mana, the land in every plane is able to produce it over time. I like Zendikar because there is a lot of it here."

Jace interrupted. "Almost all mana falls under five colors: white, blue, black, red, and green. Different lands produce different colored spells, and different types of spells require certain colors of mana. For example, these mountains here produce red mana. And –"

"Yeah, red mana is the best because you can do this." And with that, Chandra spread her hands out, thumbs touching, fingers pointed to the sky. A sheet of flame, almost two stories tall erupted from her hands, heating up the entire area around them.

"Holy sh –! What was that?"

"Ignore her." Gideon walked up. "That's not what we're looking for right now. Nissa, we need you to restore the nature area we told you about. Not only that, we need to teach Kate how to effectively wield magic. She'll need it to fight Garruk."

"Yes. we should have her try all four colors to see what she is the most comfortable with.

"Weren't there five?" Kate asked.

"Yes, but only necromancers and other dark magic users use black mana. It is how Garruk was cursed. Kate, do you know how to use the mana in the land?"

"I think so… Does this mana correspond to the elements? Earth, air, fire and water?"

Chandra looked thoughtful.

"Think of it as they are produced by the elements. I think we can teach you more specifics."

Jace broke in.

"You – at least in the beginning – will probably be most comfortable with using white and blue mana. You live in a city, on an island, by the ocean. We'll begin there."

Thus the three began training a new planeswalker, bringing another into the fold.

 **XXXXXX**

 _A/N 2: Kind of a short one, but what did you think?_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have had an enjoyable holiday season, and I hope the year ahead will be good for you._

 _Just in case anyone's wondering, this is set sometime mid season 4, before the '47 Seconds' arc. On to the story! :)_

 **XXXXXX**

 _Darkness covers me. Fear precedes me. Death follows me. What have I become?_ Black thoughts enter my mind as I follow the zombie hound I summoned. It is on the scent of my newest prey, an easier target. A man wrapped in some sort of bedroll, almost a hundred feet away. I think of a simple yet effective spell to kill the planeswalker. I cast it and watch as the man's body seizes up and goes limp again. "You can have him." The zombie runs forward, and begins gorging on the dead body. Halfway through though, the dog stops, looks around, and growls at a person staring at us, his hand at his ear, holding something. As soon as he sees us look at him, he runs. With no reason to pursue the man, I continue to watch the dog's side become more and more bloated as it strips the flesh off the carcass.

"You there! NYPD! Put your hands in the air." I looked at the man pointing something at me.

"Kill him." The hound burst forward, charging the man, who fired off the thing, but he could not stop the undead. It landed on him, tearing out his throat, when many others wearing a similar uniform arrived. _"Kill as many as you can."_ With the mental command, the beast began attacking the men, and I used the distraction to slip away into the shadows.

 **XXXXXX**

Had anyone been paying attention, they might have seen something strange happening in the middle of Washington Market Park. A small bright white hole appearing out of nowhere, hanging in the air. If they continued to watch, they would have seen the hole enlarge and a young man step out. More people emerged from the shining portal – a woman with hair that looked like fire, not just red, but truly aflame. Another man, older than the first, with long hair and green eyes. A second woman, with dark hair and long pointed ears. If SuperNovaCon had been going on, this woman would have won an award for best cosplay hands down. And a third woman, a brunette with hazel eyes, was the last before the portal disappeared.

Kate stepped down from the opening, watching what she was doing this time so she wouldn't fall on her ass again. No sooner had she got her bearings in the park, her phone went crazy.

Texts, missed calls and emails all sent up a cacophony of chirps, beeps and chimes.

"What is that awful sound?" asked Nissa, looking at the device in Kate's hand with disgust.

"I've got a bunch of notifications," Kate muttered, distracted by the text from Esposito. Ignoring the other messages for the moment, she dialed the detective.

 _"_ _Esposito."_

"Espo, it's Beckett…" Kate began.

 _"_ _Beckett? Where the hell have you been? There's some serious shit going down."_

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you…" Kate tried again.

 _"_ _Yeah, well you better come up with a good story before you get here. Gates is_ pissed _."_

"What's going on?"

Esposito paused so long Kate thought she'd lost the call.

 _"_ _You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Just get here."_

The call ended.

Putting the phone back in her pocket Kate turned to the others.

"I have to go."

"But the nature area," said Chandra. "You need to put your training to use."

Kate glared at the woman. She was back in her city, on her turf, and her confidence was back.

"Something's happened that's a hell of a lot bigger than this park. Fix it yourself, the city – and I – will thank you. But I help protect it _all_. And I have to go."

She strode away.

"Kate!" Jace called out.

She stopped and turned to him.

"Contact us if any of this has to do with Garruk. You haven't had enough training to defeat him on your own. We can help."

Kate nodded, and turned away.

"As for us," Jace continued to the others, "We can get started with the park, and reach out to see if we can find Garruk ourselves."

They acknowledged the statement, then began gathering mana for repairing – and fighting.

 **XXXXXX**

Kate arrived at the precinct to find it in chaos.

"Beckett!"

She whirled to find Esposito striding toward her.

"Javi, what's going on? And don't tell me I won't believe it, because I've seen some weird stuff today."

"Ryan, let's go!" Esposito called to his partner as he grabbed his car keys. He turned back to Beckett. "You remember those two weird dudes? Believed magic was real?"

"Jace and Gideon, yeah," Kate had to jog to keep up as the two men rushed to their car. "That's where…"

"As much as it pains me to say it, they may be on to something," he interrupted. Before she could agree or even express shock that he believed it, he continued. "Go to Central Park and you'll see why. Precincts from all the boroughs are on their way."

And with that, he joined Ryan in the cruiser and drove off, leaving Kate standing open mouthed after them.

 **XXXXXX**

After a quick check-in with Captain Gates, who told her in no uncertain terms that they would be discussing where the hell she had been for the last day and a half, Kate turned to head back out to the park.

"Under no circumstances are you to call Mr. Castle for this, Detective," Gates called to her.

"Sir?" Kate asked, stepping back into the Captain's office.

Gates narrowed her eyes at Kate.

"You really have been off grid, haven't you? Detective Beckett, I've made no secret that I don't care for Mr. Castle, but this is an extremely dangerous situation, and I'd rather he not die while he's following you."

"Sir, he's…" Kate began.

Gates held her hand up. "I've read the reports," she said. "In certain situations, he's acquitted himself well."

Her face softened, much to Beckett's surprise.

"But not this time, Kate. Let him watch it on the news. You'll understand when you get there. Dismissed."

"Yes, Sir," Kate replied and left the office, heading to the elevator.

 **XXXXXX**

Kate parked on the side of the 65th St. Transverse road in Central Park and ran toward the Sheep Meadow, to see the police forming a wall with riot shields against a single dog.

"What the hell is going on?"

She watched as two men fired, hitting the thing, but not affecting it in any way. As she got closer she could guess what the dog really was. A zombie, like the ones Gideon had told her about. Not like the ones in the movies, but an undying monster that could not be killed until the magic holding it together was destroyed. To do something like that, they would need explosives, not guns. But she knew something better.

Although what training Jace and the others had given her concentrated on blue and white mana, Chandra had insisted that Kate gather red and green mana as well. She sent a mental image of her surroundings to Jace in the hopes that he and the others would abandon the other park for awhile, then raised her arms as she had seen Chandra do. Kate knew she probably should wait for the others to arrive, but from the look of things around her, too many had fallen to the monster already.

The magic flowed through her body and a sheet of flame erupted from her fingers. It was good that she hadn't gathered much of the red mana, because as soon as the flames burst out, she knew she couldn't control it. She was able to direct the jet of fire at the dog, but most of it dissipated without doing much damage. She lowered her hands.

Ryan and Esposito jogged over to her. They were dressed in flak jackets and helmets.

"How the hell did you do that?" asked Ryan, looking at her in disbelief.

"And can you do it again?" asked Esposito.

"I can't explain how, Ryan," she answered. "And even if I could, there's no time. Espo, magic is the best way to stop this, but there's no way the commanders are going to believe that."

Esposito nodded. "True."

"They're going to want to do it their way first. That means we're going to need explosives, and I think they need to be military grade. Can you get on that?"

"National Guard's already been called in," he replied. He looked at his feet, not wanting to look at her when he asked his next question. "What you did looked like something out of a fantasy video game. If that's real, that means Jace and Gideon were telling the truth. If so, we need them. Can you contact them? Using magic?"

Kate nodded.

"I already did – if I did it right. I'm pretty new at this."

She jumped at the sound of her name behind her.

"Kate! What's wrong? Oh. I see."

Kate turned to see Jace, her other three mentors a few feet away, thankfully responding instantly to her call.

"I can stop that thing," said Gideon. "But if I want to destroy it, it'll probably cause more of a commotion than we want right now. We need to draw Garruk out, but all these people will need to leave. For now, I'll just keep it down." Gideon took a step forward, pointed a now glowing hand at the ground below the zombie, and glowing chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around the dog impossibly tight, pinning it instantly.

"What?" Even after seeing the fire coming out of Kate's fingers, Espo looked amazed. "Who – what are you guys?"

"Yeah, like we said. Magic is real." Jace had a weird look on his face, halfway between 'duh, I told you so,' and 'you've got to be kidding me.' "Espo, this is Nissa, and this is Chandra."

The detective nodded to the women.

"So, anyway, what now? Did anyone else see you do that? Captain Gates is not going to believe this. Hell, I don't believe it and I saw it with my own eyes."

The officers who had formed the wall around the dog looked around, relieved and amazed at the sudden end of the creature's onslaught.

 **XXXXX**

Garruk watched the pandemonium from atop a building set back from the Sheep Meadow. He wasn't pleased to see Jace and the others. "Hmm… there are those planeswalkers again." _What am I going to do with the ones that cursed me? I know… more. But not only that, something else. Something… big._

 **XXXXX**

The National Guard had just arrived, the men responding as a well-coordinated unit. The captain of the Central Park precinct walked up to the unit commander and spoke.

"Colonel, I'm Captain Lewis Bonham. I appreciate you coming out."

"Colonel Lloyd Edwards, Captain," he shook the man's hand and looked around at the chaos. "I hope we can help."

Kate walked up to the two men.

"Sirs. Detective Kate Beckett from the 12th precinct."

"Yes, Detective?" acknowledged Bonham. He noticed the group of planeswalkers speaking with Esposito inside the cordoned off area. "Why are those civilians there? Arrest those people!" he called.

"No, Sir," Kate began. "They're here to help."

Bonham looked closely at Beckett.

"You're the one with the fire. How did you do that?"

"Those 'civilians' can explain better than I can, Sir. The man with the long hair is the one who chained the…thing."

The colonel spoke up then.

"Was there something that you needed from us, Detective?"

"Yes, Sir. Do you believe in magic?"

"What kind of a fool question is that?" asked Captain Bonham, annoyed.

"I'm serious, Sir. Those four use magic. So do I, to an extent – which is what you saw with the fire."

"Are you saying that the five of you can take care of this dog?" broke in Edwards. "After that phalanx of men couldn't?"

"Yes, Sir."

The two men looked at each other, coming to a mutual decision.

"I can't deny I saw what you did with the fire," said Bonham. "But I'd prefer to trust something that's not 'magic'," the airquotes were apparent in his voice.

Edwards nodded in agreement.

"Then we need explosives," Kate replied. "That thing can't be killed without them."

 **XXXXXX**

Castle was worried sick.

Beckett was missing.

He'd received calls from Esposito and Ryan asking him if he knew where she was. Gates had even called him, though she was more irritated than concerned. He had phoned her more than once as well, the call dumping to voicemail each time.

Alexis rushed into the office. "Dad, you've got to come see this! Oh, my God, it's awful!"

He followed her into the living room, where the TV was on. A news reporter was trying to explain a horrifying scenario from Central Park.

 _"_ _That's right, Bill, it looks like a rabid dog or something. And look at the size of that thing! Nothing the police are throwing at it seems to be having any effect."_

Castle looked at his daughter in horror.

 _"_ _Police from the five boroughs are coming in and the governor has called in the National Guard. Wait… Something's happening."_

What was happening was Kate, arms in the air, flame rushing from her fingertips.

"Dad! How did she…?"

"I'm going down there."

"Dad, you can't!"

"Pumpkin, I…"

"No, Dad," Alexis interrupted. "Please, for me. Stay this time. Just watch it with me."

Castle looked from his daughter to the television screen, and nodded. There was nothing he could do to help anyway, and Alexis needed him.

"All right, Pumpkin. I'll stay."

 **XXXXXX**

The NG unit's munitions officer and a member of the NYPD bomb squad coordinated with Gideon and Chandra, with Kate and Esposito acting as liaisons – translating to a certain extent what the non-magic vs. magic people were saying. A consensus was reached regarding what was needed and the groups parted to begin the setup.

Before the charges could be set, however, a scream was heard, and then cut short, replaced by the unnerving cry of a pack of wolves. Out of Runner's Grove no less than twenty wolves came pouring into the clearing.

"Are you kidding me?"

"More?"

Several police officers turned tail and ran, and it looked like several soldiers wanted to join them.

The ground shook.

"Oh crud."

Out from the grove, following the undead wolves was a gigantic beast, one Kate had seen on Zendikar. A Terra Stomper. She turned to Jace.

"Okay, what are we supposed to do against _that_?"

The Stomper Kate had seen on the other plane had been a mile away, and the distance had made it seem a lot smaller than what was coming toward them now.

"I have a spell, one on my mind for a while, but it should serve us well now. It should give us all the time in the world." Jace closed his eyes, concentrating.

"What is he doing? I don't think that is gonna work!" Espo didn't know what to look at, the pack of undead wolves, the charging beast, or Jace, who was surprisingly calm in the middle of the chaos.

"Any oaf can produce an army. It takes true power to conquer time."

As he finished speaking, everyone noticed it was eerily quiet. They looked around, and saw that everything was motionless. Kate could even see a gun in the middle of firing, the bullet just barely leaving the barrel, suspended in the air.

"All right, the spell works like this; if you touch an object, it gets excluded from the time freeze, so don't touch any of the monsters unless it's a killing blow. Got it?" After several affirmative replies, Jace continued. "We have two minutes before time flows as normal."

The five planeswalkers spread out, each careful to not touch anything or anyone. Using their own magic, they killed the undead one by one until only the beast remained, the more experienced mages keeping an eye on Kate until they were sure she knew what she was doing.

Suddenly the Terra Stomper barreled forward, and everyone realized time had resumed.

"Run!"

 **XXXXXX**

 _A/N 2: Things are really ramping up! What did you think?_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: I'm so sorry it's taken a month to update this story! School and real life do have to come first, unfortunately, and I hope you're all still there! I think we've come up with an exciting chapter for you, and it's a long one (at least by my standards:)). I hope you enjoy!_

 _Co-written with Bossybossninja._

 **XXXXXX**

Chandra and Gideon held their ground, throwing fire and trying to chain the Terra Stomper while Jace, Nissa and Kate tried to help the others out of the Sheep Meadow.

Colonel Edwards shouted at his men to halt.

"Keep going!" yelled Beckett, much to the colonel's annoyance.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he stormed. "These are my men, they take orders from me – not some cop with a few 'magic' tricks up her sleeve!"

Nissa raised her hand and Edwards stopped in his tracks. He didn't want any of her magic turned on him.

"Do you wish them to die?" she asked. "They need to leave now!"

"Of course I don't want my men to die!" he retorted. "But their job is to protect and to fight if need be. You can't tell me the five of you can take care of that thing by yourselves."

"Never mind that we 'took care' of twenty wolves," Kate muttered.

Edwards just glared at her.

Nissa looked at Jace, who addressed the colonel, "We have a better chance than a hundred more like these men. If you care about them at all, you will let them retreat."

"And see if you can evacuate the whole of the park," put in Beckett with a less snarky tone. "The fewer people around, the fewer people it can kill."

Edwards gave in. The three were adamant, and the other two were at least holding the monster off for the moment. "All right," he sighed. "I'll station some snipers in the trees as well."

Kate nodded. It was a reasonable compromise.

"Arm them with bazookas," she returned.

He nodded and moved off.

Nissa watched the colonel join the withdrawal, yelling into his radio as he ran, then turned to the hulking beast as it broke free from Gideon's chain and charged.

It was barreling at an unnatural speed toward the group of thaumaturges. They scrambled to get out of its way, needing time to figure out what to do. Time, however, was something they didn't have.

"Can't you freeze time again?" yelled Beckett.

"I can't! It's gone!" Jace shouted back.

But Nissa still had a card up her sleeve. She couldn't cast Jace's time spell, but she could use her strengths to help bring the Stomper down. Her hands shot forward, and the pavement between the beast and retreating officers gave way, and a tree grew from the space at such a frenetic pace that it was already over ten feet wide and twice that tall before the beast, unable to turn, plowed into the base, stunning it.

With the beast in a daze, the planeswalkers were able to stop and take a second to breathe.

"This won't last long," Nissa told Kate. "Gather as much mana as you can."

Kate nodded and closed her eyes, feeling the power of the city and the ocean flowing through her.

Jace began shouting incomprehensible words of power, causing the air around the beast to shimmer, and finally cease to exist.

Despite the lack of oxygen to the animal, it wasn't enough. The Stomper had recovered enough from the blow to its head to rush the group again.

With a swipe of its claws, the creature tore a gash in Jace's leg, clear down to the bone.

Jace's scream galvanized the others and two attacked the monster. Chandra created an inferno and laughed at the light show, her red goggles looking ridiculous to Kate. Using chains twisting around its legs, Kate was able to cast the same spell as Gideon had earlier to try to keep it in place. Gideon and Nissa turned their magic on Jace, trying to staunch the bleeding and heal the wound.

Then there was an explosion right in front of the beast. Edwards' snipers were in position, and they had taken Kate's suggestion of the rocket propelled anti-tank weapon to heart.

Injured, the animal began backing away to the trees. Jace began chanting a spell and with a flash of light the Terra Stomper was returned to the Æther. He then passed out. It soon became almost as quiet as it was before, the sounds of the city once again becoming audible.

It was over…for now.

 **XXXXXX**

"I thought you guys said you were magic," an officer from the Central Park precinct mentioned.

Nissa glanced up from her ministrations.

"We use magic, yes."

"So how come he got hurt?" the man nodded toward the still unconscious Jace, who was lying on the interrogation room table while the two healers used their magic, the deep gash slowly and painfully becoming smaller. It was good the man was out.

She glared, but he didn't back down.

"Doesn't seem like it's particularly powerful magic if you get hurt. That's all I'm saying."

Nissa couldn't believe her ears. The zombie dog. The undead wolves. The Terra Stomper for the Fourteen Gods of Theros' sake! What was it going to take before the people on this plane believed in what was right in front of them?

But the officer kept going.

"I mean, it was the bazooka, our 'non-magic' weapon that turned it around. Kept your guy from getting hurt worse."

Nissa narrowed her eyes. "The wise accept help wherever it is given. Whether from crude weapons such as yours, or magical such as mine."

She turned back to Jace, effectively dismissing the officer, though he didn't leave. So she continued.

"Magic protects us from many things, but not everything. Even the best spellcasters can be injured." She indicated the planeswalker on the table. "Would that it were not so. Now go."

Still the fool stood there.

"You can't tell me to…" he trailed off when he noticed Nissa's fingertips turning a dark green, almost black. "Are you going to try to hurt me with your magic?" he barked. "I could arrest you for threatening a police officer –"

"But you won't," a voice came from behind him. It was Kate, followed by Captain Bonham.

"She just tried to use…"

"Did she?" asked Bonham. "I can tell she's annoyed, but I didn't see her raise her hands to you in any sort of threat, magical or otherwise. You're dismissed Morton. And stay away from the other magic people, or you're dismissed for the day."

Morton opened his mouth and shut it a couple of times before mumbling "Yes, Sir," and stalking off.

Kate and Bonham looked at the man on the table.

"Will he be all right?" asked Kate.

"Terra Stompers aren't poisonous," explained Nissa, "but wounds from their claws have a tendency to fester. Thankfully he will make a quick and full recovery."

"So in the meantime, what do we do now?" asked Kate.

"We regroup," replied Gideon, looking up from the gash in Jace's leg. "Which is what I'm certain Garruk is doing."

"Chandra went to upstate to gather more red mana," Kate told Nissa. "I don't know when she'll be back. Does the height of the mountain have anything to do with how much mana is formed? I mean – The Adirondacks are no Himalayas."

"I'm not sure, you would have to ask Chandra. But mana is produced over time. I'm sure there will be plenty on the mountain she chooses to gather from. You wouldn't have noticed, because how would you know, but there is a lot of mana on your world. Much of it is old, but of course still useful. I have never been to a plane so full of all the colors of mana. And it's not because this plane itself creates more than other planes, but because it's never been used. It actually makes your world more dangerous."

"More dangerous?" queried Bonham. "How?"

Kate broke in.

"Because it's almost unlimited power." She stood and began pacing around the room. "Think about it. If I were unscrupulous, I could take over the world using magic. I could destroy my enemies, reward my friends – and then destroy my friends when they get uppity as a way of keeping others in line. I could also see a planeswalker using this world as a 'home base' if you will, coming here to collect mana and leaving again to do his thing elsewhere."

"Is seizing the world something you think this Garruk will do?" asked Bonham.

"No," a weak voice came from the table. Jace was awake.

Nissa helped Jace to a sitting position, checking his wound and mumbling more healing words as her hand passed over the leg.

"You don't think Garruk wants to take over?" asked Kate.

Jace shook his head.

"He wants to break a curse."

That got everyone's attention.

Jace went on.

"Garruk was a planeswalker who used green mana."

Bonham's eyes turned to Nissa. Her primary color was green, he'd overheard her discussing it with Kate earlier. No one else noticed his concern and Jace continued.

"He was cursed by another planeswalker called Liliana Vess using an ancient artifact called the Chain Veil. The full story doesn't matter right now, but Garruk is after her specifically. The problem is he doesn't know where to find her, and I don't think he even remembers her name. I don't believe he really _wants_ to hurt or kill others, but he's so bent on revenge that he'll stop at nothing to get it. But he won't take over the plane. If he doesn't find Liliana here, he'll move on."

"How do we get him to move on?" asked Bonham, then he shook his head. "God, that sounds horrible. 'Go destroy some other world and leave mine alone,' but… Oh, hell, maybe that _is_ what I'm saying."

He sat in one of the chairs at the interrogation table and put his head in his hands.

Kate took over the conversation. She had to be the intermediary between the magic and non-magic peoples, even though it felt like she had more questions than answers.

"I think it's a reasonable question, Sir. Jace, if we can defeat Garruk, will he leave voluntarily?"

Jace shook his head, wincing at the movement. The excruciating pain in his leg was making him hurt all over. Gideon's aid was helping, though.

"Reasonable and answerable are two different things, Kate. He may leave, either deciding it's not worth fighting such a formidable foe, or deciding that Liliana isn't here since he hasn't found her."

"Or…?" Bonham spoke.

"Or – it's a big plane. He could move on to other cities, or even disappear into a swamp to recover, if we damage him enough. If that happens, there's no telling when or where he may appear again."

Kate swallowed hard.

"Do we need to kill him?" she asked.

Jace was silent for a moment. "He didn't ask to be this way, he was cursed. I'd rather find a way to break the curse and bring him back to the way he was."

Nissa scoffed.

"Even if you were to heal him to his former self, that doesn't undo the damage he's done."

"Killing him doesn't undo it either," retorted Jace. "But I will concede that may be the best way to get him off this plane, and prevent him from doing more."

"So what do we do now?" Bonham's question hung in the air, no one wanting to speak up, mainly because no one had ideas. Finally, Jace spoke.

"Well, this has happened before. If I remember correctly, Liliana actually put a different curse on Garruk, one that turned him into a werewolf, and that – Oh."

"What? What is it?"

"We can't break the curse, but I know of another planeswalker who can."

Kate jumped in. "Then what's the problem?"

"To get this guy to help is what you would call "making a deal with the devil." The planeswalker's name is Ob Nixilis, and he is a demon."

 **XXXXXX**

 _How long have I been searching?_ I tried without success to recall when the planeswalker cursed me. _Too long. This place, though. It is so full of mana. I can do whatever I want. I might just be able to find that person, or get their attention through the destruction I cause._ A sudden burst of anger surged through me. _Why me? Why? If I ever find the one who did this…_ I drew all the mana I could find, the power swirled through my body, wanting to take form, almost beckoning me to release my anger. _They will pay… No… THEY WILL ALL PAY!_

 **XXXXXX**

"Detective Beckett, a word?"

Kate looked up from her discussion with the other planeswalkers at the captain gesturing for her to join him.

She nodded, murmured a few words to Jace, and left his side. She entered Captain Bonham's office and he closed the door.

"What can I do for you, Captain?"

He got straight to the point.

"Do you trust Nissa?"

Kate was nonplussed.

"Sir? I –" she trailed off.

"It's just that I... It's just that Jace mentioned that this Garruk used green magic, and I heard Nissa mentioning her use of it to you. So I need to know, Detective."

Kate was silent. The question surprised her, though maybe it shouldn't have. Bonham did have a point – to an extent.

"Captain, I think I understand where you're coming from with this question, but I'm not sure I can answer it to your satisfaction. This is all very new to me, and I'm still learning."

"Fair enough." Bonham sat at his desk, motioning for Beckett to do the same.

"Thank you, Sir." She sat and twisted her fingers.

"Go on."

"Mana is magic power, for want of a better term. Different spells require different colors of mana. There really isn't a 'villain' color, per se, though black might be the closest to that – but even black has its uses. It's also not a 'family' thing – Nissa and Garruk aren't related – I don't think they're even from the same world. Green is nature and growth, and that's not bad."

The captain pulled a file on the desk closer to him and opened it.

"I requested this from Captain Gates," he told Kate. "It's your current case."

"Yes, Sir." Kate sat up straighter.

He placed a photo in front of her, and she lifted it.

"Ah, yes. I see where you're going."

The photo was of a taxicab, covered completely with vines. Bonham placed another on the desk, this one of a man with similar vines covering his legs up to his knees.

"Green is nature and growth," he repeated Kate's words. "I'm not sure I'd call this good – would you, Detective?"

Kate handed the photos back to the captain and he returned them to the file and closed it.

"Anything good can be corrupted, Sir. A gun isn't good or bad, the user determines that. Same thing here."

Bonham nodded, conceding the idea.

She leaned forward and continued speaking.

"And at this point – to answer your original question – I don't know for sure how trustworthy Nissa is. I've known her less than a week." She paused, choosing her words carefully. "I'm not sure how trustworthy any of them are, but I'm choosing to trust Jace and Gideon. I haven't known them much longer than Nissa, but they saved my life when Garruk attacked me directly. They brought Nissa and Chandra here to fix the damage done to the park where the attack happened, and the only reason they haven't done any repairs is because of what just went down in Central Park. I guess what I'm saying is; they have faith in her, and I have faith in them. Nissa has given me no reason not to trust her, she's been helpful in teaching me spells and how to use the mana I've gathered."

Captain Bonham nodded, not completely mollified, but he knew she'd given him all the information she had.

"Keep me posted if anything changes? Don't go looking for it, but if you see something…"

"Yes, Sir."

He stood and walked to the door, opening it for her.

"Thank you, Detective. You didn't quite ease all my fears, but – it's hard not having a grasp on everything when you're used to being in charge."

Kate chuckled darkly as she moved to leave the office.

"We're definitely on the same page with that, Sir."

 **XXXXXX**

I looked at the city that sprawled before me. _I hate them. If I want them dead, I'll bring them here. I wonder what will bring them here faster?_ I juggled two sinister ideas in my mind. _HA! I know. Big cities take a long time to destroy, unless, of course, you have a very big monster._ With the anger rising in my chest, I placed my hand on the ground. _The forlorn cries of the dead combine to make its laugh, they say. I say its laugh will become so much bigger soon. The city will pay for hiding the Planeswalker that cursed me. They will pay in blood._ Channeling mana into the spell, the very ground began to take shape, the earth rising up to destroy those who would oppose me. A colossal elemental made from the earth and animated by the souls of countless dead, the Lord of Extinction had awoken.

 _Come, little planeswalkers. Die._

 **XXXXXX**

 _A/N 2: I'd love to hear what you think!_


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: I know, I know. It's about time! :( Between school and family, my co-writer and I have had a heck of a time getting things written. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed that things have calmed down a little so we can write. I enjoyed writing this – even with as long as it took, and I think it works. I hope you agree!_

 **XXXXXX**

Castle rushed into the 12th precinct and looked around wildly. Kate was nowhere in sight. He could see Ryan and Esposito, still wearing vests, giving their reports to Captain Gates through the window of her office, but unless she was sitting on the floor in a corner, Kate wasn't with them.

Rick moved to her desk and began searching for something – anything – to suggest she had been there recently.

There was nothing.

"Hey, Castle," Esposito called as he and Ryan exited the captain's office. "Beckett's not here. She's still over at Central Park helping with the cleanup of what happened."

"What the hell _did_ happen?" Castle asked, the image of what he'd seen on the news still incomprehensible.

"Did you watch it?" Ryan asked. "I saw news cameras before things started going down."

"Yes, but I'm not sure I believe it. If I wasn't positive it was Beckett on the screen, I would have thought I'd tuned into SyFy."

"Believe me, Bro, everything you saw on the news was real," said Esposito.

"When Beckett shot fire out of her fingers…" Ryan trailed off, shaking his head.

"Gates is requesting a copy of all the footage the news channels took," Espo continued. "Just to try to make sense of it all."

"Good luck with that," said Castle. "Is it really all over for now? Do you think I should go down to the park? Kate is my partner, after all."

"But you're still not a cop, Castle," retorted Esposito. "I'm not going back there until this Garruk dude is vaporized like that Stomper thing was."

"I think I heard one of them – Gideon? – say 'returned to the Æther'," Ryan corrected.

"Semantics, Bro. However you want to word it, I'm staying away from all the city parks until he's gone."

Ryan nodded, agreeing with the point.

"Beckett's got the magic people to deal with anyway, Castle..." Espo went on.

"Planeswalkers," Rick interrupted.

"Whatever," Esposito shot back. "My point is they're the ones who took out the wolves and the Stomper thing. The rest of us were in full retreat – cops and National Guard. You're a help, Castle, but this time you might be in the way."

Rick's face fell.

"Castle, once everything began going down, and those wolves showed up, _we_ were in the way," Ryan pointed between Esposito and himself. "Don't take it personally."

"You're right," Castle conceded. "Just… If you hear anything from her?"

"We'll let you know," said Ryan. "She'll probably call you first anyway."

 **XXXXXX**

"Remember what we have gone over. Think of the spell – the very creature you want to summon – and use mana to let the Æther take that creature's shape."

Kate was sweating. Not from exhaustion, but from nerves.

Gideon had the bright idea to train Beckett to summon animals from the Æther. Kate wasn't sure at first, she wasn't familiar with creatures from other planes and she wasn't sure she could control any animals she did know.

If she even managed to summon anything, of course.

She was trying, but the first two times she had tried to summon a mastiff, she had failed, mostly because her worries broke her concentration. Gideon's encouragement helped, but she had to focus to succeed.

"Come on Kate; you can do it!" Jace's words of encouragement helped steady her mind. Using the mana she had, she thought of the spell once again. It was pretty simple, or so they said. Normal people, who weren't even planeswalkers could do it, they said.

 _Ha. I'd like to see…_

"Focus, Kate!" Gideon's words snapped her attention back to the spell.

She took a deep breath.

 _It's just a dog, a big dog, but just a dog. Simple. I can do this; I can do it…_ She focused, and put in an extreme mental effort to summon –,

"You did it!"

Kate heard a deep bark and realized she had been squeezing her eyes shut. Opening them, she was face to face with a dog the size of a lion.

"I… wow." Kate was flustered as to what to say, she guessed she shouldn't be surprised, but somehow it still was shocking to see something that wasn't there seconds before.

Gideon sent the dog back to the Æther. "All right. Now that you know you can do this, I want you to practice more. We need to continue to prepare for Garruk's next attack, and hopefully catch and stop him. Summon it again."

"I've got it! Why didn't I think of this before?" Jace's sudden outburst made Gideon and Kate turn their heads towards him. "All we need to summon is a Frost Lynx and an angel. The two should be enough to hold off a massive, one creature attack, or multiple attacks from smaller creatures, like the undead wolves we saw before."

"I don't know, Jace," countered Gideon. "I'm sure that's a great strategy and all, but I still think we need a way to keep any battle that happens concealed. Remember, on Earth, no one knows about magic, and even on other planes, few people know that their plane of existence is not the only one. I don't think Earth is ready for that kind of information yet."

"Earth may not be ready, but this is out there," Kate said, leaving off her summoning practice for the moment.

"What do you mean?" asked Gideon.

"There's no way the city doesn't know what happened by now," Kate answered. "Not only did I see news cameras during the fight, there's no doubt cell-phone footage was uploaded to YouTube within 5 minutes of it happening."

"What is 'YouTube'?" asked Chandra..

"That's not important," Kate shook her head. "The point is, news of our little skirmish has probably gone national – if not worldwide by now."

"Well, we still need to at least try to keep things to a minimum," said Gideon.

"I can solve that problem," Nissa jumped in. "If I were to cast a spell of fog to conceal our battle, it would be like it never happened."

"But what about the battlefield? The wreckage of the battle is sure to raise questions," Kate countered.

"Remember why you brought me here? I can heal the land afterward. Speaking of which, I still should go repair the park."

"Right. And while you do that, what do we do?" asked Kate.

Jace spoke up again. "We find Ob Nixilis, and get him to help us."

"What if he doesn't?"

"Then we will be on our own."

Kate wasn't sure she liked the sound of that. Yes, they'd held their own during the battle, but she felt like it was only just. Put the way Jace had, it sounded ominous.

"Nissa you can start with the park," Jace continued, "while Chandra and I see if we can convince Ob to help us, and not die in the process." He rolled his eyes self-deprecatingly. "Then you, Gideon, and Kate can do the fog and help with the defense of New York."

"Wow. You sound like I do when I'm giving orders to Ryan and Esposito," Kate mentioned.

Jace smiled.

"Anytime you need a person with a brain, just ask me." Then he whispered to Kate, "Don't ask Chandra for anything that has to do with plans. They usually entail a lot of fire and not much else."

"Thanks for the tip," she grinned.

"What did you say now?" Chandra walked over, smiling. "I may not think too much, but I can say that fire did save us all once."

"Of course you were listening. I have already told you a million times that more fire isn't a solution!"

"I agree with you, Jace," Chandra said.

"Wait, what?"

"It's not always a solution, but it is always fun," she said with a devilish smile.

 **XXXXX**

Kate, Nissa, and Gideon arrived at Washington Market Park later that day, the sun still visible between the skyscrapers. Jace and Chandra had left Earth a few hours previously to find Ob Nixilis.

"This place looks terrible," Nissa said. "I hate this curse. Everything dies in Garruk's wake."

"That's why we took our oaths, remember?" Gideon asked rhetorically. "This is exactly what the Gatewatch is supposed to prevent."

"Oaths?" Kate asked.

"The plane where we met – Zendikar – was not always a peaceful place," Nissa said. "The Roil, as it was called, was a magical response the plane took to eradicate a great evil that had been trapped inside it, called The Eldrazi. These titans ravaged entire planes, destroying and distorting everything in their path. Many years ago, they were trapped, but they finally were released again. In a moment crucial in the war, at its darkest hour, we took an oath to prevent such evils and to rid them from the planes."

"That's why we are here at Earth. When we found out about Garruk, we needed to intervene." Gideon shifted. "Killing the Eldrazi was a challenge that we could only overcome by working together. The three titans, Ulamog, Kozilek, and Emrakul almost killed us and everyone on Zendikar and Innistrad, but together we killed each of them."

"What does it mean, to join the Gatewatch?" Kate asked.

"It means to take the oath to protect the order of the planes. I took the oath for the life of every plane," Nissa said reverently.

"And I took the oath for justice and peace." Gideon paused. "Nissa, we need to get on with this. We are running out of time, and Garruk will only grow stronger with the next turn of events."

Kate pondered what Nissa and Gideon had described. It sounded a lot like the Oath of Honor she had taken when she graduated from the academy. It was something to think about later, when they weren't in such a life or death situation.

The three of them walked into the park. It was eerily silent. Kate noticed a child of about six years old crying, looking at the twisted form of what had probably been the monkey bars or a swing set from the playground. "Guys, let me go talk to that kid, I'll be back in a sec."

Gideon and Nissa watched Kate jog over to the boy, then kneel to speak to him.

"Do you think she would be a good choice for the Gatewatch?" Gideon asked.

"I don't know, Gideon," she answered, continuing to watch Kate. "She's very tied to this plane… And the people in it."

"That doesn't mean…" Gideon began.

"No, you're right," Nissa interrupted. "But it also goes back to this being a non-magical plane. She's become more accepting of magic and us, but to ask her to defend other planes – possibly at the expense of this one – is another story. We can invite her…" she paused and looked at Gideon seriously. "But it must be her choice, and there is no wrong one. If she chooses not to join, it cannot make us think less of her."

Gideon nodded and turned back to watching Kate with the child.

 **XXXXXX**

"Hey," Kate reached the boy and knelt beside him. "Are you okay?"

The boy sniffled before he replied.

"Not s'posed to talk to strangers."

"And that's a good thing," Kate nodded. She pulled her badge out of her pocket. "But you know what? I'm a cop." She held out the badge and the boy took it, holding it in wonder.

"My name's Kate, what's yours?"

"How come you're not dressed like a cop?"

Kate smiled. "I'm a detective. Detective's don't have to wear a uniform except for special occasions." Her smile dropped as Captain Montgomery's funeral and her shooting came to mind.

"I'm Barry, can I keep it?" he asked, holding up the badge.

"Hi, Barry," the smile was back. "And no, I'm sorry. I kinda need that to tell people I'm a cop. They might not believe me without it since I'm not in uniform and they can't tell."

"Bad guys too?"

"Bad guys too."

"Okay," Barry handed Kate the badge and she returned it to her pocket.

"Now, Barry, are you crying about the park?"

"Yeah. I don't un'erstand what happened. I live over there," he pointed to an apartment building across the street. "And I come here every week. My mom said I could come over by myself today, 'cause she can see me out the window and she's coming in a sec. I was here last week and it wasn't like this. I wanna play!" The tears were coming faster now.

Suddenly a shout came from across the street.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing with my kid!"

Kate stood as the irate woman crossed the street, pulling her badge from her pocket again, along with her ID. She noticed Gideon raising his hands to possibly freeze the woman in place, but Kate shook her head at him, and he lowered them.

"Hi, I'm Detective Kate Beckett with the NYPD," she introduced herself, holding the badge and ID out for the woman to examine.

"Mom! She's a cop!" Barry said excitedly, tears drying for a moment.

The woman scrutinized the identification then glanced at Beckett.

"Do you know what happened here?" she asked, softening her gaze.

"Do you watch TV?" Kate countered, eyebrows raised.

The woman's face shot back to Kate's, an expression of shock developing as she realized this was the woman with the fire she'd seen on the news.

"Oh, my God!" she pulled her son to her side.

"Mom!" Barry whined.

"We won't hurt anyone," Kate assured.

"'Cept bad guys!" Barry interrupted.

Kate smiled down at him. "Except bad guys," she repeated. "I feel like this…" she gestured around the park. "…is a little bit my fault. I was here jogging when one of those bad guys attacked me and did all this."

"Then it's not your fault," protested Barry. "It's the bad person's fault."

"You're right, Barry."

"Can this be repaired?" asked the mother. "It looks like nothing will ever grow here again."

"I brought a couple of friends with me who say they can fix the park." Kate replied, pointing over to Nissa and Gideon. "I don't know if they can fix the playground equipment, Barry, but I have another friend who I bet will buy all new stuff to play on."

"Really?" asked the boy.

"And I wouldn't be surprised if he came down to play on it too. He's a big kid just like you." Kate stopped, thinking she really needed to call Castle. He must be out of his mind with worry. And, yeah, she probably should let him know she'd promised a kid he'd buy new playground equipment. It might take awhile, but she'd pay him back if it came to it.

"So, what's going to happen? Should we be here?" Barry's mother broke into Kate's thoughts.

She blinked.

"You know, I'm not exactly sure how it's going to work. I don't think there will be any danger, but it might be a good idea if you left, just to be on the safe side."

"But I wanna play when it's done," Barry pouted.

Kate knelt beside the boy again.

"I understand that, Barry," she said. "But I don't know how long it's gonna take to fix. It might be dark before we're done. Or it might even be tomorrow or next week before everything's back to normal."

"Okaaaayyy," the boy dragged the word out. He took his mother's hand and Kate stood and watched as they crossed the street and entered the apartment building. She waved Nissa and Gideon over.

"Let's get this show on the road."

 **XXXXXX**

Nissa closed her eyes while Gideon kept a lookout for anyone who would see. There was still a need to keep this somewhat secret, but it was hard to keep a visible secret in the middle of a bustling city. Besides, Kate said anybody watching would probably block it out within a week as unbelievable. Even Barry would think it was his imagination by the time he hit his teens.

"Now," Gideon said. There were only three cars driving in the streets to the side.

With a burst of green light, Nissa touched the ground. Almost immediately, a green shoot sprouted between her fingers out of the charred gray ground. Growing at an unnatural pace, it was followed by many others, covering the ground in grass.

"It's like watching a time-lapse," Kate whispered as she watched the ethereal event.

Spreading through the ground around the kneeling planeswalker, the foliage expanded, and more plants grew at an amazing speed. The corpses of trees began to revitalize, showing life once more. Flowers, bushes, and shoots of vines retook the dead ground, filling it with life once again. It continued, the circle of green growing faster and faster, the plants growing, the life spreading, until Nissa lifted her hand and it stopped.

Kate looked around, her mouth hanging open. The park she remembered going to; the park she remembered jogging in less than a week ago, was right in front of her. Then she noticed something else. It wasn't silent anymore. It was as if the animals had realized their home was intact again. Birds had already returned, chirping away their cheerful melodies.

A beatific smile adorned Nissa's face.

"This is what I took my oath for."

 **XXXXXX**

 _A/N 2: What did you think?_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: We're back! Once again, we're sorry this has taken so long, but at least we're here. It's a long chapter, so hopefully that helps. :) Enjoy! Co-written with Bossybossninja._

 **XXXXXX**

Two figures – a man and a woman – strode down a dusty trail in Amonkhet – the last place the planeswalker they were looking for had been seen.

"Do you think this will work?" the woman asked. "Do you really think he'll help us?"

"I don't know, Chandra," the man answered tersely. "You remember what happened last time."

She winced.

"So then what are we doing here, Jace?"

Jace walked faster.

"We have to try," he replied. "Garruk didn't ask to be cursed."

"Some might argue that Ob didn't ask for it either," Chandra countered

That made Jace stop in his tracks.

"That's a point, Chandra, but he still brought his curse on himself by going for the Chain Veil."

"Which only adds to my point, Jace. He can't find a way to cure his own curse, why should he cure Garruk?" She held up a hand to stop the interruption Jace was beginning to make. "I'm not saying we shouldn't try _if_ we can find someone who can do it. I just don't think we will."

"You don't think my powers of persuasion will succeed with Ob?" he asked.

Chandra shrugged.

"You remember what happened last time."

 **XXXXXX**

Kate had just stepped out of the shower later that evening when the phone rang.

"Never fails…" she muttered as she wrapped a towel around herself and opened the bathroom door.

She grabbed the phone off the nightstand and looked at the ID and winced. She'd forgotten to call him on her way home, still utterly amazed at what she had witnessed Nissa do.

"Hey, Castle," she answered sheepishly, sitting on the bed, running another towel through her hair to dry it a little.

 _"_ _Beckett!"_ Rick exclaimed in relief. _"I've been trying to get a hold of you all day!"_

Kate rolled her eyes, though she wasn't sure if it was at Castle's histrionics or her own absentmindedness.

"Really, Castle? _All day_?" she asked snarkily.

 _"_ _Kate,"_ he sighed.

She relented.

"I'm sorry. Hang on a sec."

She pulled the phone from her ear and quickly scrolled through her missed calls. She hadn't paid attention to the notifications because she'd been so busy, but when she began learning how to summon creatures, she'd silenced the thing. And then after healing the park, she'd forgotten to turn the ringer back on.

"Damn, Castle. It really has been all day. I apologize, I had it on silent and forgot about it," she paused. "It's been a big day."

 _"_ _I'll say. I saw you on the news."_

Kate gave a self-conscious laugh.

"Yeah, that fire thing was kind of a dumb thing to do in hindsight. I haven't learned how to control it."

 _"_ _But SO cool,"_ Castle breathed. _"Along with all the other stuff you did."_

"I was just following the others, Castle. I didn't – I don't – have a clue as to what I'm doing. But thanks. It's still hard to get my head around. I mean… _magic_."

 _"_ _Well, you must have believed a little bit in the possibility of magic,"_ Castle replied, the smile apparent in his voice.

"Why, because I found it?"

 _"_ _Exactly."_

"Then why didn't I accept it right away? You would have."

 _"_ _Except I didn't. I'd come looking for you at the precinct after you'd been attacked at the park, and ran into Jace and Gideon instead. They told me what happened and… I don't know… wanting to believe and then being faced with the reality of it are two different things."_

"Yeah, well, don't sell yourself too short, Castle," she smiled gently to herself. "I think I accepted it sooner than I would have because of you."

 _"_ _The way you were throwing around magic against those monsters? I had nothing to do with that."_

"Your believing gave me the – I don't know – courage maybe? To accept the possibility, to accept what was in front of my own eyes. I think that was half the battle. I watched Jace and Gideon disappear right in front of me and I followed. I can't explain it, I just _knew_ how to do it.

They were silent as that sank into Castle's brain, then Kate continued.

"So…um… Have you seen what else happened today?

 _"_ _You mean Washington_ _Market?"_ he asked.

"Yeah. We left as soon as we finished, so we – or rather I – haven't seen any reaction yet."

 _"_ _Yes, I've seen it. Well, I haven't seen it, seen it, it was on TV. I suppose I could've asked Gideon – he's up in the guest room – but since I've got you, I'll ask you. Kate, how did that happen?"_

Kate could hear the shock in his voice.

 _"_ _I mean, did you do that? It's all over the news and people are… What's that British slang term?... gobsmacked by it!"_

Kate explained what Nissa had done, awe still coloring her description.

"Castle, it was like… A fantasy movie. When she put her hand on that barren ground and grass started growing…"

She trailed off for a moment – remembering. Then she continued.

"It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I'm so sorry I didn't call you. You would have loved seeing that."

 _"_ _Well, not that I'm hoping for a next time, but – next time?"_

Kate laughed, then sobered as she remembered what was coming.

"You know, there probably will be a next time. We still have to defeat Garruk, and I have no doubt he'll cause as much damage as he can."

The two were quiet as they each considered the implications. Then Castle broke the silence.

 _"_ _One thing I saw on the news as they were panning the camera across the park, is the pile of twisted metal off to one side. What was that?"_

"It was a playground. It may have been the mana Nissa was using, or the fact that she was specifically just making things grow, but for whatever reason, it couldn't be fixed." She took a deep breath. "And…yeah, about that… There was a six-year-old little boy who I may have promised that you would pay for new equipment." Kate waited a few seconds to hear Castle's reply.

At first there was just silence.

"Rick?"

More silence.

"I-I'll pay you back. It'll take some time, but…"

 _"_ _I'm sorry, Kate,"_ he interrupted. _"I'm a little gobsmacked again. I would be honored to help in some small way. I'll call the parks department first thing in the morning. No payback necessary."_

Kate sighed in relief.

"I know I should have asked you first – I shouldn't have presumed – but thank you. Barry will be so excited."

 _"_ _That the little boy you talked to?"_

"Yeah, he was a sweetheart, and so sad he couldn't play."

Kate tried to hide a yawn, but she couldn't get it past Castle.

 _"_ _You've had a long day, I should let you get some sleep."_

"Yeah, I'm absolutely wiped," she said. "Thanks for calling, I'm sorry I didn't look at my notifications."

 _"_ _With everything you've seen and done today, it's understandable. Don't worry about it."_

"Thanks."

 _"_ _Always. Until tomorrow, Detective?"_

"Until tomorrow."

Kate clicked off her phone and checked the charge. After plugging it in, she found a sleep shirt and snuggled in bed. Hugging a pillow close to her, she fell sound asleep.

 **XXXXXX**

 _I move along the streets, looking for a place to gather mana. There are small places, producing little of what I need, they will not do. I would have preferred to stay at the place they call Central – the mana there was strong – but the weapon they used to defeat the Terra Stomper was too powerful. And it wasn't even magical!_

 _I must find a place where there are no weapons like that._

 _I hear a scream, then another. Looking around I see the inhabitants of the city staring at me, the fear in the air palpable. Good._

 _I smile to myself, enjoying their fear of me, but they are not planeswalkers and I have no desire to waste my power on them unless they attack…_

 _Wait._

 _I can sense something across the river. Something fitting for my needs. I cannot cross where I am, I must find a way._

 **XXXXXX**

The next morning, as soon as she walked into the precinct, Kate called Gideon.

 _"_ _Um… Hello?"_

"Hey, Gideon, it's Kate."

 _"_ _H-Hi, Kate,"_ he stammered. _"Sorry, I'm still getting used to this telephone thing. Was there something you needed?"_

"How's the fog going with you two?"

 _"_ _I was actually just talking to Nissa. She has recovered enough to cast it. She was just heading to a place called Coney Island."_

"That makes sense, putting it as close to the ocean as possible. Isn't fog a blue spell? Because it's made of water vapor?"

 _"_ _Umm, well, no, actually, fog happens to be a green spell."_

"Well, okay. Is there a particular reason why?"

 _"_ _Ask the Blind Eternities."_

"The what now?"

 _"_ _Oh, sorry. It's an expression that means no one really knows why."_

Kate sighed. Maybe someday this magic thing would be less confusing, but at this point, she doubted it.

"Okay… Well, then why there? If fog is a green spell why at the ocean?"

 _"_ _We agreed that she should make it seem as natural as possible. A fog coming from the sea happens here, right?"_

"Yeah, but… hold on." Kate opened the WHNY news website and looked at the weather forecast. "The weather's predicted to be clear for the next week…"

 _"_ _That's unfortunate with our wanting to keep this as secret as possible."_

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time the weather girl got the forecast wrong," she sat back in her chair and ran her fingers through her hair.

 _"_ _Okay, um…"_

Kate could hear the confusion in Gideon's voice, and smiled. Here was another alien thing that the other planeswalkers would have to learn if they wanted to function in this world. Just like she had to learn magic to function in theirs, she realized.

 _"_ _But wouldn't this be perceived to be unnatural?"_ he asked. _"If it was predicted to be clear, how will a fog that covers the city be explainable?"_

"Don't worry too much about it. If they don't think the forecast was wrong, people will just assume it's part of the crazy stuff that's been happening here lately.

 _"_ _I suppose you're right."_

Gideon started saying something else, but Kate noticed Captain Gates motioning to her. The woman jerked her head toward her office and Kate nodded.

"I'm sorry, Gideon. I have to go. Did Castle teach you how to text on your phone?"

 _"_ _Text?"_ Gideon squeaked. Was there something else he had to learn with this contraption?

Kate caught on to his distress.

"Forget it. Just call when you see the fog roll in."

 _"_ _All right."_

Kate cut the call and put the phone in her pocket as she stood and went to Captain Gates' office.

 **XXXXXX**

"Good going, Jace."

"You were the one that tried to burn down the place? What happened to ask first, fire later?"

"He was going to kill us!"

"I had a counterspell ready."

Jace and Chandra were in the middle of a wide street in Zendikar, having just planeswalked from Amonkhet. The noisy sounds of the lush jungle were ignored as they argued.

"How was I supposed to know?" Chandra raised her hands in frustration. "Besides, I never thought that that was going to be a good idea anyways."

"You never have ideas in the first place," he said smugly.

"That's not true!"

Chandra was getting indignant; a spark flew from one of her hands.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes!" She absentmindedly brushed off her hands, taking a breath while trying to calm down.

They glared at each other.

Calming down was more than a little futile for both of them.

"That was the stupidest thing ever." Chandra said. "The only thing that he told us is that he hated us and he'd blast us into oblivion if we showed up again!"

"No…"

"Oh, I forgot," she continued sarcastically. "He also spat out some really seemingly wise but nonsensical words."

"He did not!" Jace protested. "I thought you got that. He said evil children always hate their fathers, and then he laughed."

"And what in the multiverse is that supposed to mean? He hates his dad?"

Jace rolled his eyes.

"Now I get why he laughed. He knew you would overthink it by underthinking it."

"What?"

"He told us the answer: we need to get the Chain Veil. That's what initially cursed him."

"Oh." Chandra deflated a little. "But how are we supposed to get that? We have no idea where Lilliana is!"

"Didn't you hear the rumors in Ahmonket? She is there! That's why Ob was there."

"Where and when did you even hear these rumors?"

"That doesn't really matter too much."

"Mhm… sure, right. We'll be having a conversation about that later." Chandra paced around Jace. "We shouldn't have planeswalked back to Zendikar, we could be there now without having to use more mana."

Jace shook his head.

"Doesn't matter. What we need to do is get word back to Earth. I'll send a message to them, give me a second."

With a wave of his hand, a small circular rift appeared. Jace loudly announced, "Nissa Revane," and Nissa's face materialized in it with a misty white background. A look of surprise then recognition came over her face, quickly followed by a blank expression.

"Whoa. I forgot about that. What's going on, Jace?"

"Good news and bad news. We have found out that the Chain Veil can be used to break Garruk free from his curse, but Lilliana has that, and we only know that she is in Ahmonket right now. Oh, and Ob is not going to help us."

 **XXXXXX**

"You wanted to see me, Sir?"

"Yes, Detective. I just got off the phone with the captain of the 10th precinct. It seems that this Garruk may have been spotted by traffic cams at an intersection under the 94. He's headed toward the Lincoln Tunnel by the looks of it."

"Oh, great," groaned Kate. "If he reaches New Jersey, we may never catch him."

Gates' computer pinged an email, and she motioned Kate to join her behind the desk.

"I asked Captain Norton to send me some stills of the camera footage. Is this Garruk?"

Kate gazed at the image of the giant holding an axe on the screen and nodded.

"Yeah. He's pretty hard to miss," she said.

"You said earlier that only the two called Gideon and Nissa are here, correct?"

"Yes. Jace and Chandra have gone to try and get help."

The captain's phone began to ring. Raising a finger to Kate, she answered.

"Captain Gates… Yes… How many?" Gates grabbed a pen and began taking notes. "Well, with that axe it's no wonder people are frightened… Yes, she's here with me. I'll tell her. Thank you."

Gates was silent as she placed the handset in its cradle. She faced Kate.

"Dispatch is reporting multiple 911 calls coming in from people in the area. Garruk hasn't hurt anyone… yet."

"He's probably on his way to the waterfront park across the tunnel. He's going to need the greenery," said Kate. "There are a few small parks on this side of the Hudson, but nothing as big as that one."

She paused, choosing her words carefully. If magic was weird for her, how much weirder was it for those who were on the sidelines watching? She was nowhere near to getting used to the idea herself, and she understood how alien it was to everyone else.

"I'm not sure he's going to hurt anyone unless they get in his way, or are a planeswalker."

"Not hurt anyone?!" Captain Gates was incredulous. "Have you forgotten the victims in this case? Your attack? Central Park?"

"Of course not, Sir," Beckett held the other woman's gaze. "But from what Jace has told me, the victims – like me – were planeswalkers."

The captain looked like she wanted to jump in, but Kate kept going, answering the question she was sure Gates was going to ask.

"That's someone who has the ability to use magic if their 'spark' is lit. It's hard to explain, but suffice it to say, our victims were killed before they knew what they were. Garruk _didn't_ kill the taxi driver, he stopped the vines before they could choke the man. The homeless man killed at Central Park was also most likely a planeswalker, but the man who witnessed the event and called 911 got away."

She swallowed and continued quietly – it was always difficult to speak of officers killed in the line of duty, especially when she had come so close herself.

"The officers who were killed before Jace and the others arrived at Central Park died because they were actively threatening him. But if people stay away from him, they'll probably be okay."

"Then how do we stop him from escaping through the tunnel? Our people will have to engage him until you lot get there and 1PP would rather not lose any more personnel to this… monster."

"Nissa is going to create a diversion so we can get to Garruk with – hopefully – a minimum of chaos. In fact, it should be beginning soon."

No sooner had she spoken then there was a shout from the bullpen. Both women left the office to find detectives and uniforms at the windows.

There was no view. Just solid white.

 **XXXXXX**

"Well, I hate to say 'I told you so', but..." Nissa sighed. "Thanks for the update. The fog should be keeping Garruk at bay, hopefully, and we are heading back to the police station right now. You might want to talk to Kate though, she might know something else happening here."

"Thanks!" Jace looked at Chandra. "You want to talk to Kate?"

"Sure."

Jace turned to the rift and said, "Kate Beckett." The scene swiftly changed to Kate and from what Chandra could see, she was walking through the bullpen.

"Holy sh- Chandra! What are you doing?" Kate stopped dead in her tracks, and a few officers gasped and pointed at the glowing circle of energy hovering in front of her face.

"Sorry, I should have told you about this. Cross-planar communication needs to be done this way, we're still on Zendikar."

"Please tell me these things before you appear in front of my face while I'm working!" Kate exclaimed, putting her hand over her heart trying to calm herself.

She waved her hand dismissively.

"Forget it. What've you got?"

Chandra filled Kate in with what had happened on Amonkhet with Jace jumping in to clarify a few things when Chandra began going off on a tangent.

"Okay, we won't have help from this Ob Nixilis guy," Kate said when the two were finished briefing her. "So we do it ourselves. Are we capable?"

The question was serious. She'd learned a lot, and was in awe of her colleagues' magical talents, but they'd barely got away with their lives at Central Park, and she had the feeling this fight was going to be much bigger.

She was jolted out of her musings by Captain Gates.

"Detective Beckett! What is the meaning of this?"

"Ah, Captain! I-um-" Kate stammered. "It's a briefing… of sorts," she finished lamely.

Gates looked as if she wanted to reprimand, but she stopped herself. Continuing to give Kate the stink eye, she went on.

"I know this is important. It's probably the most important case we have right now. But does this briefing have to be in the middle of the bullpen? You're in the way of the others."

"I'm sorry, Sir," Kate glanced to the portal. "We'll – I'll move. Jace will this thing move with me?"

"Of course," he replied. It tends to give people motion sickness, so we usually try to not move, but for a few minutes it's all right."

"We'll use Interrogation One, is that all right, Captain?" Kate asked.

Gates frowned.

"Yes. No one is in there now," she said in exasperation. She then turned her gaze to the portal and shook her head as she moved off. "Creepy, crazy, cockeyed magic stuff," she muttered.

"Did she just insult us?" asked Chandra, her fiery hair intensifying in its blaze.

"No," said Kate. "I happen to agree with her. Come on."

She walked to the interrogation room, the portal following in her wake.

 **XXXXXX**

"Looks like we're headed for a big fight, Chandra."

"Yep."

Jace had closed the portal after they had finished comparing notes. He looked thoughtful as he continued.

"I guess this could be it."

Chandra snorted.

"Thanks for the enthusiasm."

"Heh, I guess everything should turn out okay. It's just…"

"Just what?"

He avoided Chandra's eyes.

"How many times will we have to do this? I mean, we are the Gatewatch and all… but I don't know how long we can keep this saving every plane thing up."

"Jace, look at me."

He turned and their eyes met.

"No matter what happens, we're in this together. The more of us there are, the easier the load gets. We have Kate now. With the five of us putting our best foot forward, don't you think that we can do this? I mean, look at what we did together fighting the Eldrazi! And Garruk is only one."

Jace took a deep breath, remembering the titans that could have easily laid waste to New York in seconds. The four of them did defeat them. Together.

He nodded firmly.

"Okay, I-I'm ready. Let's save Earth, together."

 **XXXXXX**

 _It is directly across the river. I can feel it, but I do not see a way across._

 _I can't see. A fog has risen._

 _Curse them._

 _They think this is magic?_

 _They think they can defeat me this way?_

 _They will see otherwise._

 **XXXXXX**

 _A/N 2: Thanks to Bossybossninja for putting up with my procrastinations. It has been a lot of fun writing this with you!_

 _What did you think about this one? The big fight should be coming up next!_


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: *Sheepishly pokes head up* Hi! We're finally back! I'm sorry it's taken so long (since June!) to get back in gear. I mentioned in my Halloween fic that I'd been dealing with writer's block, and I think I've finally broken through it. (Thanks Leroy! :) ) Bossybossninja and I have come up with an exciting chapter for you. I hope you enjoy! (Fingers, toes and eyes crossed it won't take another 5 months to write the next one. *Beckett Eyeroll*)_

 **XXXXXX**

Nissa was pensive as she walked beside Gideon on the way to the precinct, dispelling the fog to a few feet in front of them, just enough so they could see where they were going.

"You're being very quiet," Gideon mentioned, not concerned, but curious.

"I don't know, Gideon," Nissa replied. "I just have a feeling we may have made a fatal error."

"How so?"

There were a few seconds of silence that passed between them, making it seem the entire world around them was holding its breath.

"That's just it, Gideon. It's like it's right there," she pointed to her head. "But it won't come out."

"I wish I knew how to help you," he said. "Perhaps it will come through when we're all together."

"I hope so."

 **XXXXXX**

 _Time goes ticking away. For them._

Garruk was on the move, not really knowing where he was going in the fog, but gathering mana like a leech wherever he went.

 _They only stall because they know their fate. They will pay for their crime against me!_

A disembodied voice flowed through the fog.

"... Did you get that honey? … I know … I'll be there as soon as I can. This is the last time I walk home from work, I promise … I know, this fog has me all turned around … No, I think we should just wait."

Garruk homed in on the sound of the voice. The closer he got, the surer he was that this wasn't a planeswalker, but he might just be able to get some important information out of him anyway.

The man's eyes grew wide as he stepped into the area Garruk had cleared of fog and saw the giant with his axe staring at him.

"Uh… honey…" he mumbled softly into the phone. "I need you to call the cops. The guy from TV… yeah, that one… He's here." The man broke into a run, his only thought to disappear into the mist.

 _Stupid._ Garruk thought as he flicked his wrist. A root jutted out of the sidewalk, tripping the man before he had taken three steps, sending him sprawling onto the ground.

"None of that, foolish man. Tell me where the planeswalkers are, or you will wish you were dead!"

 **XXXXXX**

Jace and Chandra were already at the precinct when Nissa and Gideon arrived. No pleasantries were exchanged as Beckett led them into a conference room to discuss logistics.

"So, what are we looking at here?" Kate asked. What spells do we need and what kind of spells are we expecting from Garruk?

"Well, monsters, of course," replied Jace, lightly rubbing the spot on his thigh where the Terra Stomper had gored him. Nissa and Gideon's healing ministrations had left no scar, but Jace could still feel some pain, and likely would for awhile. "Terastodon, Baloth, Primalcrux…"

"We also need to be prepared if he uses a black spell," cut in Gideon. "Perhaps a Crypt Ghast, or Fleshmad Steed."

"Ummm… how many monsters are there?" asked Kate.

"Too many," the others replied in unison.

"And don't forget Elementals," Chandra continued. "An Ivy or a Greenwarden. I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled a Vortex Elemental, with all the water and blue mana around."

Nissa gasped, her dismay evident.

"Nissa?" queried Jace.

She replied to the other man instead.

"Gideon, you remember the walk here? The feeling that was nagging at me?"

He leaned forward, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Yes, a 'fatal error', you called it."

"I was so stupid not to think of it; especially since I was using it myself," she went on in a self-deprecating tone. "Dispel."

All the planeswalkers except Kate groaned. Nissa continued for her benefit.

"It's a blue spell and Garruk usually has a one-track mind with using green spells. But this is one of the easiest spells for anyone to learn, even a mage who doesn't have a spark."

"That's true," said Chandra. "Even though dispel is not a particularly powerful spell, neither is fog. It would likely work if he thought of it."

"So, what you're saying is Garruk can get rid of this fog with a wave of his hand – or however he casts spells?" asked Kate.

"Yes," Nissa answered. "All I've done with the fog is made it easier for him to hide his moves."

"Great," said Gideon sarcastically. "I love playing chess blind."

 **XXXXXX**

 _He was telling the truth._

Unfortunate that the man had no news of the planeswalkers. He claimed not to know what a planeswalker was, much to Garruk's disbelief. However, he did have one piece of information that was useful.

 _"_ _There is a green place across the water, I can smell it. How can I get there?" Garruk tightened the vine he had conjured around the man's chest and arms._

 _"_ _You mean Weehawken?" the man – whose name was Larry – wheezed._

 _With a flick of his wrist, the vines squeezed tighter._

 _"_ _Tun-…Please… Can't breathe…"_

 _The vines loosened – but only just._

 _Larry took a few shallow breaths, the constriction still too much for anything deeper._

 _"_ _Lin-Lincoln Tunnel's a block away. But there's no pedestrian access. You'll need to go to the George Washington Bridge at 178_ _th_ _, to walk across, or take a ferry."_

 _"_ _What is a ferry?"_

 _The man looked at Garruk like he was stupid, but still trying to not piss him off even more._

 _"_ _A boat," he answered, beginning to struggle against the vines, which tightened again._

 _"_ _I don't wish to take a boat," the giant said. "Is the bridge close by?"_

 _"_ _N-n-no," Larry stammered. "It's over a hundred blocks from here."_

 _The vines became so tight that Larry was turning blue. A tendril snaked its way up to his neck, circling it._

 _"_ _I will walk across through the tunnel."_

 _"_ _P-please!" Larry croaked._

 _Garruk relented. He needed to conserve mana, and although he was going to a place with a lot of it, the less he had to gather meant there would be more during the fight._

 _Larry gasped a few deep breaths and looked up at the giant._

 _"_ _I'm a maintenance worker," he said. "I know how to get you across the tunnel, but I'm wondering why you don't just go to Riverside Park?"_

 _The vines tightened again._

 _"_ _W-wait!" Larry gurgled. "I can show…"_

 _The vines eased._

 _"_ _Show me what?"_

 _"_ _Can I get my phone out of my pocket?"_

 _The cursed planeswalker acquiesced. The vines loosened enough for Larry to retrieve his phone and pull up the maps app. He scooted closer to Garruk, showing him the map._

 _"_ _See, here's where we're at now, and here's Weehawken," he said. "It's closer, one and a half miles across the tunnel, and Riverside starts at just under three miles from here. But look," he scrolled the map up. "It's skinny, but it's long. And there's more than one park going up the island. You said you wanted green space. You don't have to go to Jersey, you can just stay here."_

 _Garruk examined Larry's phone. It was like no map he'd ever used, but he understood the gist of it._

 _"_ _Which direction?" he asked Larry._

 _The man pointed north._

 _"_ _You have done well."_

 _The vines fell away from Larry's body and he watched the being stride away – hoping he hadn't helped destroy the city by helping the giant with the axe._

 **XXXXXX**

The group of magic users was somber as they filed out of the conference room. They had all spent some time after the meeting gathering what mana they could in preparation for the battle coming. It would be enough to begin… they hoped.

"I need to make a couple of calls before we head out." Kate stepped away from the others and pulled her phone from her pocket. If she noticed any disapproving looks, she ignored them as she pressed the speed dial.

 _"_ _Hey, Katie,"_ Jim's voice came over the line. _I just got back from the cabin a few minutes ago. You would not believe how many voicemails I have!"_

"Dad…"

 _"_ _Guess it serves me right for turning the phone off for the past couple of weeks up there,"_ he interrupted. _"What's on your mind, Honey?"_

Kate was going to tell the whole story to her father, but decided against it. There wasn't time.

"I have a pretty good idea of what those voicemails are about, Dad. After we hang up, I'm going to call Castle. I'm going to ask him to take his family to his house in the Hamptons."

 _"_ _And you're telling_ me _this because…?"_ Jim asked warily.

"I want you to go with him," she ran her fingers through her hair. "I know you just got back, but I really need you to go."

 _"_ _Katherine Houghton Beckett, what's going on?"_

Oh, boy, it's The Full Name. He's pulling out the big guns for an explanation.

"Please, Dad, I don't have time to explain, just – listen to your voicemail and Castle can fill you in on the rest – and maybe he can pull up a couple of YouTube videos for you. I'm positive something's been posted."

 _"_ _Katie…"_

"Dad I really don't have time. Just… please. I love you."

She clicked off and immediately called Rick, motioning the others to follow her out of the precinct.

 _"_ _Hello, Detective."_

"Hey Castle."

 _"_ _I've got the news on. They've been showing footage of the big axe guy I'm assuming is Garruk. Now they're talking about the weird fog. You guys set that up, right?"_

"Yeah. We're heading out to face him now."

 _"_ _Ooh! Where should I meet you?"_

"Nowhere, Castle!" she exclaimed – much sharper than she had intended.

 _"_ _Kate."_

"I'm sorry, Castle…" Kate's voice was contrite and worried and frightened all at the same time, which Rick could hear through the line.

"But I do need you to do something for me."

 _"_ _Anything, Beckett."_

I need you to go to your place in the Hamptons. Take your mom and Alexis. And would you swing by and pick up my dad?"

 _"_ _I thought you told me he was up at his cabin?"_

Kate smiled a little at the domesticity of the conversation. Circumstances aside, it seemed so _normal._

"He just got back. Please, Rick?" Using his first name. She could pull out the big guns too. "I just need to be able to do this without worrying about all of you."

 _"_ _Consider it done. I know you've given me your dad's address before, but give it to me again so I don't have to go searching."_

Kate breathed a sigh of relief, gave him the information and hurried out to her cruiser.

 **XXXXXX**

 _My rage will guide me. My army will crush them. I will finally be free. It is time._

When Garruk reached Riverside Park, he closed his eyes to calm himself for the task ahead. He needed monsters – and a lot of them. When he had conjured the elemental yesterday it took more out of him than he had thought it would. Creating the creature then sending it into a pocket dimension felt like a waste of mana, but it was necessary to keep his true scheme undiscovered.

He spread his arms, the warmth of the sun enveloping his body. He was so consumed by darkness most of the time, it was a welcome change. It helped in gathering mana as well.

And gather mana he did.

Garruk didn't drain the place, he didn't want anyone discovering his plan until he set it into motion. He used the mana to summon several creatures, then placed them into another pocket dimension until he called them to emerge and wreak havoc on the city.

Then he moved on to the next park, repeating his actions until he reached the north end of Manhattan.

The cursed planeswalker spoke a simple command.

"Go. Kill."

And all hell broke loose.

 **XXXXXX**

The fog disappeared in a flash. Immediate action was taken by the police force, scanning traffic cams to search for any sign of Garruk. It wasn't long before they found a few.

"What's out there?" Kate was on the phone with Gates, driving her Crown Vic with Nissa riding shotgun.

 _"_ _Reports are just coming in, and it doesn't look good. Kate, he has an army, and they're everywhere."_

"Define everywhere." Kate held her breath, not exactly wanting to hear the extent of the situation.

 _"_ _The Northwest side of Manhattan is being attacked."_

"Then Plan A it is then. Local National Guard combined with our forces and the planeswalkers hold out until reinforcements arrive."

 _"_ _Sounds good…Hang on a second, Detective."_

Gates covered the phone and spoke to someone. Kate heard a muffled yell that sounded like a 'WHAT?!' from the captain.

She came back on the line

 _"_ _One more thing. A little bigger than our other issues. He made… a mountain move."_

"Like a geographical mountain?" Kate bit her lip, knowing there was a small chance it could be that, but not likely.

 _"_ _No, more like the 'walks on four legs and is headed straight for midtown kind."_

Of course. The literal mountain would have been easier – as weird as that sounded – and they couldn't have that.

"Shit. That's a problem. Is it coming from the north?"

 _"_ _Yes. Tell the other planeswalkers, see if they have a solution. If not, God help us all."_

Kate dropped her phone and slammed her foot on the gas, jolting Nissa forward.

"What's this about a mountain?" she asked.

Kate flipped the siren before answering, it screaming as they sped down the street.

"Captain Gates said there's something – some sort of monster, I guess – that's so huge she described it as a mountain. That can't be right, can it? She's exaggerating, right?"

"Did she describe it further?" asked Nissa.

"Just as a mountain."

Nissa closed her eyes and Kate recognized she was contacting the others. When she opened them, she turned to the woman in the driver's seat.

"We're in deeper trouble than we thought…"

"Deeper trouble?" Kate exclaimed. "How the hell can we be in deeper trouble?"

"Jace and the others have seen it," Nissa replied. "It's an elemental known as the Lord of Extinction. And it is the size of a small mountain."

"What are we going to do?"

"We fight."

 **XXXXXX**

 _My deception is working. It is coming together now._

Garruk, after taking every last bit of mana that he could, had left Fort Washington Park in a state of death, not purposely, but because of his curse the place was left withering. He quickly generated a new fog spell – _I can play that game too –_ and began moving south.

Hidden by the fog, Garruk emerged in West New York, finding his way to where he knew the creatures that he had summoned were clashing against the planeswalkers.

 **XXXXXX**

North Manhattan was a warzone. Rubble and debris of every kind were strewn about, lights of every color flashing in the air and ground, and outlandish creatures of every shape clashed with each other. In the center of it all, the five planeswalkers fought on, aided by the fantastical creatures they summoned and the more mundane help of hot lead spewing from a firing line that offered support and a wall of defense to keep the creatures from rampaging through the city.

"The Lord of Extinction is almost here! We need a solution!" Panic swept across the entire city and no doubt the nation as news helicopters showed footage of the monstrous beast that was nearly half the size of the city.

"We could try to exile it back to the Æther!" Jace shouted as an azure drake he had summoned flew over him, a baloth in its claws.

"The power required, that would take a whole lot of energy, Jace!" Nissa was in the process of trying to keep a shambling mound of plant material from engulfing her when Chandra sent a jet of flame its way, consuming the monster with a flash of light.

Bullets whizzed in the air, riddling a baloth and sending it sprawling. The planeswalkers were very grateful for the city's assistance – crude weapons or not.

"We need to try!" Jace barked. "We have to push forward unless we want to meet the giant in the middle of the city!"

Gideon shouted as he raised a glowing spear into the air. "Today the combined strength of us will not fail!" He chanted a spell, and a shimmering golden sphere appeared around not only all five planeswalkers, but also the entire NYPD.

"We have to reach the Lord of Extinction before it reaches midtown!" Kate cried. "Let's move!"

"Charge!"

With newfound vigor, the whole of them surged forward, laying waste to the many beasts before them.

Overhead, the thunder of jets could be heard. The few bystanders who were brave enough to watch the battle outside looked on as three fighter planes flew over Manhattan and sent several rockets straight into the behemoth headed toward the middle of the city. Partially fazed by the spectacular explosions that erupted in its face, the colossal monster stopped, but only for a few seconds, then continued forward.

"We need more firepower!"

"Pay attention to the monsters on hand!"

"Look out Jace!"

"Got 'em!"

"Another at your side, watch that firing line!"

All hell certainly had broken loose. But would the combined effort of the defense be enough to overcome this onslaught? The question ran through everyone's mind. And then the worst thing that could happen did.

It turned out the bubble wasn't a shield – as Kate had hoped it was. When Gideon had cast it, she felt a boost of power and witnessed a baloth trying to stomp one of the soldiers, but the man jumped right back up to spread a hail of bullets into the creature.

The feeling of invincibility was short lived, however. The dome dissipated quickly, and injuries began mounting again.

Kate looked at the ground as a low rumbling was heard and felt below her feet. Kate looked at Nissa, who shook her head and continued fighting.

Big mistake.

A Bellowing Tanglewurm, a monster as terrible as its name, burst out of the ground directly in front of Nissa. She tried to jump away, but couldn't move fast enough.

A spike on the creature's head tore through her shoulder, nearly severing her arm.

Nissa collapsed.

 **XXXXXX**

 _A/N 2: We'd love to hear your thoughts!_


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N 1: *taps mic* Is this thing on? Hi! If there's anyone still around for this story, we're back! Last chapter I said that I hoped it wouldn't take 5 months to post again. Famous last words – it's been over a year. 2018 was a very difficult year for me, there was a lot of personal loss and I just didn't feel like writing. I doubt I'll ever really get over all the loss, but things are getting better. Best of all, it seems the muse is back! I've pulled up a couple of WIP's and have been working on those, including this one. Bossybossninja and I have worked hard to get this chapter into shape and I really hope it works, it's a long one. Enjoy!_

Kate dropped beside the woman. "Medic!" she screamed.

Answering the call, a small team of people with a red cross on the helmets they wore rushed to the fallen planeswalker. They surrounded Nissa, putting pressure on the wound, and performing every action they could to save her. All around the battle raged, the sound of gunfire popping out, the screams of monsters mixing with men.

"We've got to get her out of here," the medic told Kate. "She's losing a lot of blood."

A sudden burst of fire sent the wurm back to the Æther. Chandra rushed to Nissa's side but she knew none of the planeswalkers would be able to help. They needed to keep fighting the monsters and take care of Garruk once and for all. She rushed back into the fray, sending Jace the information through her mind as she went.

Her heart racing, Kate thought back to the training that she had received.

 _Dammit Beckett, think! How am I supposed to heal with a spell? Think!_

The image of what she was to do jumped into her head. Raising her hands, she cleared her mind and shut out the raging sounds of the battle that was happening around the small team working on Nissa. Golden light flowed from her hands, and she felt a warmth spreading from her fingertips into the unconscious body.

Too late.

Kate didn't have time to react, her body was sent sprawling by a vine-covered monster's blow. Literally slammed back into reality, she had to fight to defend the people still trying furiously to keep Nissa alive.

"Gideon, help Kate! I will send for help!" Jace shouted over the clamor.

Defending the group, both the planeswalkers and a few soldiers rallied around Nissa, striving to give the medics enough time to get her on a stretcher and get her out. It was nowhere close to easy, every few seconds a new monster would assault them from a different direction, and it seemed like their numbers were endless.

A sound like thunder roared overhead as the fighter planes took a second pass over the city.

The jets had fired a second salvo that ended much like the first, hammering away at the colossal beast, but to no avail. It was just too big. The swarm of beasts that poured on the city's defenders was unrelenting – for every nightmarishly huge beast that was pulled down, another seemed to take its place.

"Just a bit longer!" They were placing Nissa on the stretcher, but several zombie-wolves were uncomfortably close.

Finally, the medical team was ready to get Nissa out of the fight. They lifted the stretcher, moved past the protection of Kate and Gideon, and jogged to the bus waiting. The planeswalkers held the line, and the medics began loading Nissa into the ambulance.

"Ajani has answered the call!" Jace shouted as a golden-white rift appeared some several yards away from the front line. From out of the portal stepped what looked like a white lion.  
He was armored with stunning battle gear; white fur shining in the sun, and he was standing on two legs, wielding a double-bladed axe. An armored sign of hope, an unexpected ally, he had arrived at a crucial moment.

Ajani quickly surveyed the area, taking in the myriad of monsters battling the planeswalkers and law enforcement. His eyes stopped at Nissa nearly inside the medical vehicle, and his previously emotionless face gave way to a look of concern as he saw her badly bleeding shoulder.

"Nissa!" Ajani rushed over to the group of medics carrying her unconscious body. "Let me help," he implored.

One medic began to protest, but another stopped him; pointing at Ajani's paw. The lion planeswalker was beginning the words to a healing incantation. A blinding white orb formed in his palm, and he completed the spell by putting his other paw on her chest, filling Nissa's body with white light.

"That will help her. Now go!"

The medics jumped back into action, hastily loading her into the ambulance and slamming the doors just before peeling away, sirens blaring against the rage of battle.

His attention turning to the fight at hand, Ajani brandished his double-bladed axe and charged, jumping into the fight as if he had always been there. He was a master of battle, and with every strike, it seemed that the tide turned in their favor just a little more. With the addition of Ajani, the shape of the battle seemed to change. He was completely alien to this plane, with his resemblance to a walking lion, yet he inspired all those who watched him take down one monster after another. The line which had just been holding its own changed to a crawl, then a steady push forward. The enemy was faltering.

Jace, Gideon, Chandra, Kate, and Ajani led the firing line forward, now in a tight pack, destroying those that got too close.

"Watch the left flank!" A burning mass of plant matter was rolling towards the group, which was only stopped when Gideon threw up a magical field that stopped the flaming blob from doing any more damage.

"That was too close," cried Kate. She was beginning to wear down and didn't understand where the others were getting their energy.

Ajani gave Kate a shrewd look and muttered the same incantation as he had for Nissa. A slightly smaller orb appeared in his paw and he touched Kate's arm. Immediately, Kate felt a warmth spreading through her, invigorating and strengthening her. Everyone was full of surprises.

Throwing a quick smile at Ajani, she rushed back into the battle with the others.

 **XXXXXX**

"Shit, is there something wrong with the machine? None of this is making any sense!"

"That's a hell of a plastic surgery job on those ears."

"Get her shoes off! Make it a little easier for the docs when we get to the hospital."

"For God's sake keep the pressure on that wound!"

"Wish that lion could have stayed with us."

The two paramedics in the back of the bus with Nissa shouted back and forth as they worked

over the elf, not knowing what they were dealing with exactly.

Carl Jameson yanked off Nissa's boot and tossed it out of the way before going after the other.

"Holy mother of… Who – or what the hell is she?"

Amanda Wallace looked up from the monitor, confusion still marring her face. Her eyes grew

wide.

"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed. "Take off the other boot, it may just be a deformity."

Carl followed her order, staring aghast at a second hoofed foot.

Keeping the pressure on Nissa's shoulder, Amanda said, "I wonder if that explains these discrepancies with the vitals… I don't think she's human."

"If she's not human, how do we help her?" Carl asked.

They stared at each other a moment.

"I really wish that lion could have stayed with us."

"Hey, Jorge!" Carl called to the driver. "Radio the hospital and tell them to prepare for something weird."

"How weird?"

Carl looked back at Nissa's hooves and long pointed ears.

"Ask them to have a veterinarian on hand."

"Huh?"

Amanda looked up at Carl, in question.

"Different physiology – couldn't hurt."

"I just hope we can keep her alive. We need that lion."

 **XXXXXX**

 _Another one? They're appearing like little vermin, breeding like rabbits. No matter. They haven't seen true power, they will all fall._

 **XXXXXX**

"What the hell is this? Why am I here?"

Dr. Jimmy Scott, DVM wasn't pleased.

"I'm a vet," he continued. "I don't work on people. These ears are obviously plastic surgery – a

good job on them, yes – but still…"

Carl held his hands up in an effort to placate the irate doctor.

"I get it, doctor, that's what I thought too. But look at the feet."

He pulled the blanket covering Nissa away from her hooves.

"I suppose this could be surgery too, but check out the shoes," Carl held one out for the veterinarian, who took it to examine. "Why would she wear shoes that would help her run like a human if she deliberately did that to her feet?"

"And check out these vitals," Amanda came forward with a printout. "I don't know if this is animal-like, but it's definitely different than anything I've ever seen with a patient."

Josh Davidson was working an ER rotation and was stitching Nissa's shoulder. He knew this had something to do with what was going on with Kate – breakup or not, when Kate came on the news, Josh paid attention.

"Let's get her into X-ray," he said. "That should answer the question about enhancements. "I'm more worried about the blood loss. I think she needs a transfusion, but if she's not human…" he trailed off.

"Artificial blood?" queried Dr. Scott.

Josh nodded.

"That's a possibility, and I've got a nurse calling on it, but it'll still take time to make sure it's compatible."

"...Lion…" muttered Amanda.

"What's that?" barked Scott.

Amanda jumped.

"Just... I guess another one of the 'magic people' like this one," she replied. "He looked a lot like a lion – mane, paws, the works."

"What about him?" asked Josh.

"Well… God, am I stuck in a video game?" she shook her head in disbelief at what she'd seen with her own eyes.

"W-O-W's got nothing on this," interjected Carl.

Nodding, Amanda continued. "Anyhow, he performed what can only be described as a spell. And then a bright light appeared and went inside our patient. I'm not sure she'd have survived the trip without his help. I know he had to fight the monsters," she shuddered. "But he'd sure be a help right now."

Josh nodded, cutting the last stitch.

"Well, I think I've done all I can until we get more info. Let's get her up to X-ray."

"And we'll get back to the fight," said Carl. "There was a lineup of ambulances – coming and going. I'm sure we're still needed.

"It's probably going to be too hectic, but if you can get any information about our patient, we'll need it," said Dr. Scott as he was moving toward the elevator with Nissa and Josh.

"Right."

They parted ways.

 **XXXXXX**

The presence of Ajani and his fearsome power had inspired everyone with a vigor that could be felt greater with every monster felled. Each time a raging baloth or behemoth elemental was brought down, victory seemed to be just a little closer.

Gunfire snapped through the air, shimmering waves of power that crippled beasts flew faster than the eye could follow, each tearing holes into the enemy, who was faltering now. All that was left was a massive push that would take them to meet the Lord of Extinction, and that would keep them out of the city. Where energy was thought to be spent, invigorating magic cast by Ajani was felt, re-energizing those that needed the help most, taking the fight forward and feeling the monsters one by one.

But such as it was, the fight was not without loss. Even a simple miscalculation led to the injury or death of another man. Nissa was already evidence of this. Jace, Ajani, Gideon, Chandra, Kate. The five planeswalkers were beasts themselves on the battlefield, pushing the line forward as the enemy took heavy losses.

 **XXXXXX**

In a moment that turned events, reinforcements arrived. Military forces had arrived, not only armed soldiers but at least two tanks. They opened fire on the Lord of Extinction, now precariously close to the skyscrapers of New York. Fiery explosions riddled its side, shaking the beast with the force. Like all the attempts to do damage to it, however, they failed. However, unlike the missile salvos from before, the giant creature did not ignore the attacks from the side, instead of turning its great mass towards the attacker.

Down in the city, these events were visible to all, and a great cheer went up from thousands as they were bought a little more time.

How much time, however, remained to be seen.

 **XXXXXX**

Now fighting a forward battle, the force pushed onward, making more progress faster the farther they went. The monsters were almost out of Manhattan, with two small groups being routed in Inwood Hill Park, and another on Broadway Bridge. The buildings in the area had sustained heavy damage, but they had been evacuated when the occupants saw what was going on.

The Lord of Extinction had crossed the Hudson River, moving inland. When it did, a single of its massive hoof had stepped into the river, flooding the nearby houses as the water was diverted and pushed onto the banks. The military forces were mostly packed onto Palisades Parkway, a street just to the west of the river. With the giant monster so close, they were forced to retreat while throwing everything they could at the giant that was giving chase.

On the island of Manhattan, the last few monsters were being killed, their bodies dissolving back into the energy that formed them. The planeswalkers and national guard were relieved, but the feeling was short-lived. They still had a lot to deal with.

 **XXXXXX**

Now that his forces in the city had been destroyed, Garruk felt what he had to do. Rage burned inside him from losing so much of his forces to the planeswalkers and humans. He gathered what mana the land had left to cast a trio of identical creatures, three acid spitting dragons that would certainly grab the city's attention.

 _These will bring me to victory, and my foes to their knees._

 **XXXXXX**

On the news, one news channel's video feed of the giant monstrosity was cut short. Others swerved to show the new aerial threat, a trio of dragons flying in spearhead formation, with the falling news helicopter quickly dropping out of the view. With this new addition to the chaos, the helicopters scattered like pigeons, trying furiously to stay away from the trio of acid-spewing dragons. They landed on a roof of a nearby skyscraper and released jets of dark-green liquid onto the nearby buildings, burning gaping holes that ate through the concrete and steel like water dissolving cotton candy. One could only hope that the evacuation orders had saved those inside, for people were still streaming out of the city to the east and southwest.

This attack was not unnoticed by the planeswalkers, who saw the trio of dragons begin a terrible attack run on the city. Thankfully, with the fight almost complete where they were, they could divert some of themselves towards defense.

After an extremely brief conference, it was decided that Jace, Kate, and Gideon would go to take out the dragons while the other planeswalkers would finish the job on the ground. Jace summoned a blue-white sphinx that appeared in front of him, ready for flight. Gideon summoned a chariot pulled by two pegasi, which would cause anyone to gawk for a solid hour if not in such a dire situation. Just before they got on, one of the SWAT team members gave Kate his gun.

"A bullet in his head should stop this. Hopefully." Kate nodded and got on the chariot.

The three Planeswalkers took to the air, each making a beeline for the dragons.

 _Dragons?_ Kate thought as the winged horses pulled the chariot into the air. As much as she hoped Castle was nowhere near the battle, she knew he would love to see this. His Hagrid Halloween costume last year was proof enough of that, chanting _"Crikey, I'd like a dragon!"_ every other sentence.

However, these dragons were not as cuddly as Norbert, or even the Hungarian Horntail, fire breathing and all; these two weren't shooting fire, they were spitting some kind of acid, and everything the stuff hit dissolved like cotton candy in water.

She didn't know Garruk's plan, and the thought was getting to her. He might want to take care of the more experienced planeswalkers then play with her like a cat and mouse. But at the same time, even though she was weak and inexperienced in magic – weak in the sense that she _was_ inexperienced and didn't know what kind of power she wielded, or could control, (the fire in Central Park a good case in point) she had her strengths. And Garruk couldn't know that.

In fact, that weakness could be a strength, Esposito's words came back to her. Garruk had probably fought Jace and the others before, and while he'd learned some of her fighting quirks, he couldn't possibly know everything, because they had never met in true combat.

Kate looked at the gun she'd been given. It wasn't her Glock, so the feel wasn't quite right, but she was grateful to have something she understood. Gideon cast a confused glance at her wielding the projectile weapon, but she ignored him. Maybe he'd been using magic too long to recognize that "primitive" could sometimes be more effective than something more "advanced," whether technology in her world or magic in his.

She didn't know if the gun would work against the dragons, non-magic weapons had worked so far on many of the weaker monsters, but acid-spewing dragons were possibly a different story. She'd definitely need to find a vulnerable spot. The eyes maybe.

In the air, Garruk had seen the planeswalkers take flight to meet him. Instead of meeting them in open combat, the three dragons dived down into the city buildings, using the giant buildings for cover, and setting an ambush. He would meet the mages on his own terms, and he had every intention of being the hunter, rather than the prey.

Jace flew behind the chariot, ready to unleash a salvo of spells if necessary. As he flew, he gathered mana from the ocean, preparing for anything. Kate and Gideon did the same, their nerves steeled for a sudden attack. They flew through the buildings, scanning for any sign of danger as they steadied their nerves.

Hearts racing, each one of them knew the consequences of failure would be dire. Kate thought she saw him, in the reflection from one of the skyscrapers, but after they had turned to investigate, he was gone. Every moment spent in search of Garruk instead of putting him out of commission was too precious to give up, but the master of ambush warfare had already settled into his element and was preparing for the perfect moment to strike.

Kate remembered the comm Esposito had given her. The fighting had been so intense on the ground that she had forgotten about it. She may well have not heard anything anyway on the ground, and she wasn't sure she was still in range in the air, but she had to try.

"Esposito? Are you there?"

It was Captain Gates who answered.

"Finally, Detective!" she exclaimed. "We've been trying to reach you for hours!"

"I'm sorry, Sir, things got loud in the battle."

"That's what we assumed, Detective, but we are glad to hear from you, and that you're all right. I understand one of the others was injured?"

The way the captain said 'others' let Kate know she was talking about the planeswalkers as opposed to the the hundreds of officers and soldiers who had been wounded.

"Yes, sir," she replied. "Nissa was severely injured. I know she's at a hospital, but I don't know her condition."

Jace called to the others, signaling to follow him. It seemed like he had found a way to track the evil mage, or was aware of something those in the chariot were not. But once again, Garruk eluded them. It was infuriating; he seemed to be laughing all around at their futile actions.

It needed to end.

They flew in formation, keeping close enough to be able to respond to attack from either side, but far enough away to get multiple perspectives, a perfect search party for the most elusive of predators.

"Listen, Captain, I don't know how long I'll be in range, I'm in the air now."

"A chopper?" asked Gates.

"No, Sir, a chariot, I'll explain later, hopefully. We're flying down ... I'm not sure where we are, it's disorienting up here. But we do have a new problem."

"Great..."

"Oh, yeah. Dragons."

"So we're dealing with fire now?"

Gideon gave Kate an odd look.

"No, Captain. Worse. A very strong acid. I'd suggest keeping everyone away. This stuff is melting buildings. No armor is going to protect against it."

"Good to know. I'll contact the military liaison."

There was silence a moment. Both women knew there was a better than even chance Kate wouldn't come back from this.

"So, um... if anything happens... will you call my dad and Castle?"

"I'm praying the only thing that happens is that you succeed, Detective. Good luck."

"Thank you, Sir," Kate replied, understanding what wasn't said. She cut the comm.

"That is a very small – telephone?" said Gideon, giving it the inflection of a question.

"It's a communication device, but it's not a phone," she answered, almost smiling at the mundane conversation in the wake of the battle. "It's good for undercover operations."

She did smile at the look of confusion on Gideon's face.

"If we get out of this, I'll show you how they work at the precinct."

"I also have a question about fire brea-"

It came as suddenly as lightning striking.

From above, Jace noticed a shadow only moments before Garruk's dragon was on top of him. His sphinx lowered one wing, spinning upside down moments before the flying beasts connected. Jace was broken from his grip, spinning wildly into the open air as the acid-spitting dragon bit down on the smaller sphinx. In a flash, the other two dragons flew into view, one slamming into the already struggling pair, slamming Jace from his seat and sending him plummeting below, possibly conscious, and the other dove in hot pursuit of the now defenseless planeswalker, mouth agape, steaming green saliva streaming down its scaly maw.

There was nowhere to run. The ambush had sprung, and it would take its victim, willing or not.

 **XXXXXX**

 _A/N 2: What did you think? We'd love to hear your thoughts!_


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